Antecedents and Outcomes of Psychological Insecurity and Interpersonal Trust Among Chinese People

Abstract

Psychological insecurity and interpersonal trust were empirically tested in a conceptual model in relation to several personality and social measures as theoretical antecedents, and to interpersonal relationships and feelings of life satisfaction as hypothesized outcomes. Questionnaire data from 301 Chinese adults showed psychological insecurity to be significantly and positively correlated with neuroticism and dependency, while negatively related to family emotional support, emotional intelligence, openness, and agreeableness; and the regression revealed neuroticism to be the strongest predictor of psychological insecurity. The results for interpersonal trust showed a significant negative correlation with psychological insecurity, and a pattern of correlations with all the other variables that were in the opposite direction of those for psychological insecurity; and the regression revealed agreeableness to be the strongest predictor of interpersonal trust. Interpersonal trust was also a significant predictor of coworker support and life satisfaction. The research identified behaviors that should be able to reduce psychological insecurity, and others that could increase interpersonal trust, with the overall results demonstrating the importance of being emotionally supportive and honest with other people to reduce feelings of psychological insecurity and increase interpersonal trust.