Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Relation of Self-Supporting Personality, Big Five Personality and Depression

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Self-supporting personality (SSP) is an indigenous Chinese personality concept. It is assumed to be a protective personality factor with regard to depression. In the present study, self-supporting personality traits are assumed to be similar to Big Five personality traits or facets of the Five Factor Model to a considerable degree, but also to contain some tendencies or dispositions which are related to depression in ways that go beyond either the Big Five factors or their sub-factors. The relation of self-supporting personality, Big Five personality, and depression was examined in a sample of 439 Chinese undergraduate students using the Self-Supporting Personality Scale for Adolescent Students (SSPS-AS), the Mandarin Chinese version of Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), and the Chinese Version of Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Results from the correlation analysis revealed that most SSP traits were significantly correlated with the Big Five personality dimensions and sub-dimensions, but the correlation between personal flexibility and either the Big Five dimensions or their sub-dimensions were modest at best. Results from the hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that interpersonal responsibility, interpersonal openness, and personal independence negatively predicted depression, even after controlling for demographic variables and the Big Five personality, however, the explained variance decreased sharply. These results support the hypothesis that despite some overlap with the Big Five personality, self-supporting personality is related to depression in additional ways that the Big Five personality dimensions or their sub-dimensions are not.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Botwin, M. D., & Buss, D. M. (1989). Structure of act-report data: is the five-factor model of personality recaptured? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 988–1001. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.56.6.988.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chioqueta, A. P., & Stiles, T. C. (2005). Personality traits and the development of depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. Personality and Individual Differences, 3, 1283–1291. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.08.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Neo PI-R professional manual. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davila, J., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Paley, B., & Daley, S. E. (1995). Poor interpersonal problem solving as a mechanism of stress generation in depression among adolescent women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 592–600. doi:10.1037//0021-843X.104.4.592.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Enns, M. W., & Cox, B. J. (1997). Personality dimensions and depression: review and commentary. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 42, 274–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie, N. A., Cloninger, C. R., Heath, A. C., & Martin, N. G. (2003). The genetic and environmental relationship between Cloninger’s dimensions of temperament and character. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1931–1946. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00042-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansell, N. K., Wright, M. J., Medland, S. E., Davenport, T. A., Wray, N. R., Martin, N. G., & Hickie, I. B. (2012). Genetic co-morbidity between neuroticism, anxiety/depression and somatic distress in a population sample of adolescent and young adult twins. Psychological Medicine, 42, 1249–1260. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00042-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harkness, K. L., Michael Bagby, R., Joffe, R. T., & Levitt, A. (2002). Major depression, chronic minor depression, and the five-factor model of personality. European Journal of Personality, 16, 271–281. doi:10.1002/per.441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative big five trait taxonomy. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 114–158). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jokela, M., Räikkönen, K., Lehtimäki, T., Rontu, R., & Keltikangas-Järvinen, L. (2007). Tryptophan hydroxylase 1 gene (TPH1) moderates the influence of social support on depressive symptoms in adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 100, 191–197. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.10.016.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., & Myers, J. (2010). The genetic and environmental relationship between major depression and the five-factor model of personality. Psychological Medicine, 40, 801–806. doi:10.1017/S0033291709991140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kotov, R., Gamez, W., Schmidt, F., & Watson, D. (2010). Linking “big” personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 768–821. doi:10.1037/a0020327.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2008). The five-factor theory of personality. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 159–180). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Middeldorp, C. M., Cath, D. C., Van Dyck, R., & Boomsma, D. I. (2005). The co-morbidity of anxiety and depression in the perspective of genetic epidemiology: a review of twin and family studies. Psychological Medicine, 35, 611–624. doi:10.1017/S003329170400412X.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Middeldorp, C. M., De Moor, M., McGrath, L. M., Gordon, S. D., Blackwood, D. H., Costa, P. T., & Nyholt, D. R. (2011). The genetic association between personality and major depression or bipolar disorder. A polygenic score analysis using genome-wide association data. Translational Psychiatry, 1, e50. doi:10.1038/tp.2011.45.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puttonenb, S., & Keltikangas-Järvinen, L. (2006). The longitudinal effects of social support and hostility on depressive tendencies. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 1374–1382. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.03.036.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saklofske, D. H., Kelly, I. W., & Janzen, B. L. (1995). Neuroticism, depression, and depression proneness. Personality and Individual Differences, 18, 27–31. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(94)00128-F.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spoozak, L., Gotman, N., Smith, M. V., Belanger, B. K., & Yonkers, K. A. (2009). Evaluation of a social support measure that may indicate risk of depression during pregnancy. Journal of Affective Disorders, 114, 216–223. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2008.07.015.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steunenberg, B., Beekman, A. T., Deeg, D. J., & Kerkhof, A. J. (2006). Personality and the onset of depression in late life. Journal of Affective Disorders, 92, 243–251. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.02.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Z. Y., & Chi, Y. F. (1984). Self-rating depression scale (SDS). Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, 2, 71–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, A., Sutin, A. R., Duberstein, P. R., Friedman, B., Bagby, R. M., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2009). The personality domains and styles of the five-factor model are related to incident depression in medicare recipients aged 65 to 100. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 591–601. doi:10.1097/JGP.0b013e31819d859d.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X. (2010). The law and shaping of self-supporting. Hefei: Anhui Education Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., Ding, C., Hollon, S. D., & Fan, Q. (2012). The relationship between interpersonal self-support and depression: a longitudinal study. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 31, 835–851. doi:10.1521/jscp.2012.31.8.835.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., Ding, C., Hollond, S. D., & Wan, L. (2013a). Self-supporting personality and psychological symptoms: the mediating effects of stress and social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 408–413. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.10.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., Huang, X. T., Wan, L., & Yang, H. S. (2011a). Self-supporting personality and practical problem solving. Psychological Development and Education, 27, 52–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., Shi, X. L., Zhang, Y., & Hollon, S. D. (2013b). Interpersonal self-support and attentional bias on negative and positive interpersonal information. International Journal of Psychology, 48, 1246–1259. doi:10.1080/00207594.2012.738299.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., Wan, L., Song, Y., & Yang, Y. L. (2011b). The relationship between interpersonal self-support and depression. Acta Psychologica Sinic, 43, 1175–1184. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2011.01175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., & Geng, W. C. (2012). Personal self-support, self-schema, and other-schema. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 44, 478–488. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2012.00478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., & Huang, X. T. (2008). Development of self-supporting personality scale for adolescent students. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 40, 593–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xia, L. X., & Huang, X. T. (2009). The reliability and validity of the self-supporting personality scale for adolescent students. Psychological Science (Chinese), 32, 952–954.

  • Xia, L. X., & Huang, X. T. (2012). The difference between chinese self-supporting personality and western independence personality. Journal of Southwest University (Social Sciences Edition), 38(1), 38–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, J. F. (2010). Cross-cultural personality assessment: the revised neo personality inventory in China. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 38, 1097–1104. doi:10.2224/sbp.2010.38.8.1097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, J., McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Jr., Dai, X., Yao, S., Cai, T., & Gao, B. (1999). Cross-cultural personality assessment in psychiatric populations: the NEO-PI—R in the People’s Republic of China. Psychological Assessment, 11, 359–368. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.11.3.359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, K., & Bond, M. H. (1990). Exploring implicit personality theories with indigenous or imported constructs: the Chinese case. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1087–1095. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.6.1087.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yao, R. S., & Liang, L. Y. (2010). Analysis of the application of simplified NEO-FFI to undergraduates. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 18, 457–459.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao, S. Q., Luo, Y. Z., Yang, J., Wang, X., & Zhu, X. Z. (2009). Neuroticism as a vulnerability factor to depression symptoms in university students: a multi-wave longitudinal study. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 17, 598–604.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Wu, Z., Fang, G., Li, J., Han, B., & Chen, Z. (2010). Development of the Chinese age norms of CES-D in urban area. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 24(2), 139–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, S. J., Lee, K. S., Zhang, Y. T., Lee, R., & Peng, Q. Y. (2008). Research on the relation between personality condition and mental health of junior middle school students. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 16(4), 394–396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zung, W. W. K. (1965). A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 63–70. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1965.01720310065008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU1409117) and the Key Project for Team Development of Faculty of Psychological Science at Southwest University (TR201206-4).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education; Faculty of Psychological Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

    Ling-Xiang Xia & Jin-Fu Zhang

  2. Faculty of Psychological Science, Southwest University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yan Xu

  3. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Steven D. Hollon

Authors
  1. Ling-Xiang Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiao-Yan Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Steven D. Hollon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jin-Fu Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ling-Xiang Xia.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xia, LX., Xu, XY., Hollon, S.D. et al. The Relation of Self-Supporting Personality, Big Five Personality and Depression. Curr Psychol 33, 630–643 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9233-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9233-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation