The Relationship of Expressive and Affiliative Personality Dispositions to Perceptions of Social Support

The study examined the association between personality dispositions and perceptions of relationship quality and support-related outcomes. Perceptions of greater dispositional expressiveness of support providers was related strongly to perceptions of the quality of the relationship with support recipients, the frequency of social support-seeking, and the quality of coping-related outcomes for specific personal problems. Recipient dispositional affiliative need was related to perceptions of greater relationship satisfaction, greater emotional support-seeking, and greater problem-specific coping benefit. Type of relationship (e.g., spouse, relative, friend) was not related consistently or strongly to perceived outcomes in general, although the frequency of contact between provider and recipient was a significant correlate of a number of outcomes. Sex of the recipient was related to a range of outcomes; however, the effects of provider sex generally depended on recipient sex, recipient affiliative need, and the specific outcome