Relations Between Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Systems and Self-Esteem: Two Multiple Mediation Models With Social Relationships

Abstract

Personality driven by Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Systems (BIS/BAS) can significantly influence self-esteem. Humans form self-esteem during social interactions; thus, social relationships may be a critical mediator. This study aims to systematically explore the role of social relationships in these relations among emerging adults. The essential social relationships of emerging adults, including mother-child, father-child, and peer relationships, were examined. Participants (N = 967, M_age = 19.16, 420 females) completed self-reported measures for BIS/BAS, social relationships, and self-esteem. The results demonstrate the mediating effect of social relationships: BIS was negatively related to all social relationships, which were further related to lower self-esteem; BAS was positively related to mother-child and peer relationships, which were further related to higher self-esteem. Moreover, the mother-child relationship emerged as a mediator linking BIS/BAS and father-child and peer relationships in the two models, indicating the unique contribution of mother-child interactions in Chinese emerging adults.

Keywords

behavioral inhibition system behavioral activation system social relationships self-esteem emerging adulthood

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amirazodi

(2011). Personality traits and self-esteem. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29(1), 713–716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.296

Arnett

J. J.

(2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.55.5.469

Balconi

Crivelli

(2010). Veridical and false feedback sensitivity and punishment-reward system (BIS/BAS): ERP amplitude and theta frequency band analysis. Clinical neurophysiology: Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, 121(9), 1502–1510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2010.03.015

Balconi

Pagani

(2014). Personality correlates (BAS-BIS), self-perception of social ranking, and cortical (alpha frequency band) modulation in peer-group comparison. Physiology & behavior, 133(9), 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.05.043

Barzeva

S. A.

Richards

J. S.

Meeus

W. H.

Oldehinkel

A. J.

(2020). The social withdrawal and social anxiety feedback loop and the role of peer victimization and acceptance in the pathways. Development and Psychopathology, 32(4), 1402–1417. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419001354

Berndt

T. J.

(2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(1), 7–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00157

Bowlby

(1969). Attachment and loss. Basic Books.

Bretherton

(2010). Fathers in attachment theory and research: A review. Early Child Development and Care, 180(1-2), 9–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430903414661

Bukowski

W. M.

Hoza

Boivin

(1994). Measuring friendship quality during pre- and early adolescence: The development and psychometric properties of the friendship qualities scale. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11(3), 471–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407594113011

10.

Charles

C. S.

White

T. L.

(1994). Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.319

11.

Christensen

T. C.

Wood

J. V.

Barrett

L. F.

(2003). Remembering everyday experience through the prism of self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(1), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202238371

12.

Conger

R. D.

Elder

G. H.

Jr. Lorenz

F. O.

Simons

R. L.

(1994). Economic stress, coercive family process, and developmental problems of adolescents. Child Development, 65(2 Spec No), 541–561. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131401

13.

de Moor

E. L.

Denissen

J. J. A.

Emons

W. H. M.

Bleidorn

Luhmann

Orth

Chung

J. M.

(2021). Self-esteem and satisfaction with social relationships across time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(1), 173–191. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000379

14.

Dickstein

(1977). Self and self-esteem: Theoretical foundations and their implications for research. Human Development, 20(3), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1159/000271552

15.

Fletcher

G. J.

Simpson

J. A.

Thomas

(2000). The measurement of perceived relationship quality components: A confirmatory factor analytic approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(3), 340–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167200265007

16.

Fox

N. A.

Rubin

K. H.

Calkins

S. D.

Marshall

T. R.

Coplan

R. J.

Porges

S. W.

Long

J. M.

Stewart

(1995). Frontal activation asymmetry and social competence at four years of age. Child Development, 66(6), 1770–1784. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00964.x

17.

Franken

I. H. A.

Muris

(2006). BIS/BAS personality characteristics and college students’ substance use. Personality and Individual Differences, 40(7), 1497–1503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.12.005

18.

Gable

S. L.

Impett

E. A.

(2012). Approach and avoidance motives and close relationships. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(1), 95–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00405.x

19.

Gray

J. A.

(1976). The behavioural inhibition system: A possible substrate for anxiety. In Feldman

M. P.

Broadhurst

(Eds.), Theoretical and experimental Ases of Behaviour Modification (pp. 3–41). Wiley.

20.

Gray

J. A.

(1987). The neuropsychology of emotion and personality. In Stahl

S. M.

Iversen

S. D.

Goodman

E. C.

(Eds.), Cognitive Neurochemistry (pp. 171–190). Oxford University Press.

21.

Guarnieri

Smorti

Tani

(2014). Attachment relationships and life satisfaction during emerging adulthood. Social Indicators Research, 121(3), 833–847. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0655-1

22.

Hawk

L. W.

Kowmas

A. D.

(2003). Affective modulation and prepulse inhibition of startle among undergraduates high and low in behavioral inhibition and approach. Psychophysiology, 40(1), 131–138. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8986.00013

23.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. The Guilford Press.

24.

Zhai

Lou

(2016). Outcomes of temperamental inhibition in young children are moderated by attentional biases. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41(6), 696–703. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025416664196

25.

Heimpel

S. A.

Elliot

A. J.

Wood

J. V.

(2006). Basic personality dispositions, self-esteem, and personal goals: An approach-avoidance analysis. Journal of Personality, 74(5), 1293–1320. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00410.x

26.

Hundt

N. E.

Mitchell

J. T.

Kimbrel

N. A.

Nelson-Gray

R. O.

(2010). The effect of behavioral inhibition and approach on normal social functioning. Individual Differences Research, 8(4), 246–256.

27.

Jorm

A. F.

Christensen

Henderson

A. S.

Jacomb

P. A.

Korten

A. E.

Rodgers

(1999). Using the BIS/BAS scales to measure behavioural inhibition and behavioural activation: Factor structure, validity and norms in a large community sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 26(1), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(98)00143-3

28.

Kagan

Reznick

J. S.

Clarke

Snidman

Garcia-Coll

(1984). Behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar. Child Development, 55(6), 2212–2225. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129793

29.

Kang

S.-M.

Shaver

P. R.

Sue

Min

K.-H.

Jing

(2016). Culture-Specific patterns in the prediction of life satisfaction: Roles of emotion, relationship quality, and self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(12), 1596–1608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203255986

30.

Katz

B. A.

Matanky

Aviram

Yovel

(2020). Reinforcement sensitivity, depression and anxiety: A meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation model. Clinical Psychology Review, 77(2), 101842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101842

31.

Kimbrel

N. A.

Nelson-Gray

R. O.

Mitchell

J. T.

(2012). BIS, BAS, and bias: The role of personality and cognitive bias in social anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 395–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.10.041

32.

Kingsbury

Coplan

R. J.

Weeks

Rose-Krasnor

(2013). Covering all the BAS’s: A closer look at the links between BIS, BAS, and socio-emotional functioning in childhood. Personality and Individual Differences, 55(5), 521–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.04.021

33.

Leary

M. R.

(2006). Sociometer theory and the pursuit of relational value: Getting to the root of self-esteem. European Review of Social Psychology, 16(1), 75–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463280540000007

34.

Leary

M. R.

(2006). Motivational and emotional aspects of the self. Annual Review of Psychology, 58(2), 317–344. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085658

35.

Leary

M. R.

Baumeister

R. F.

(2000). The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 32(2), 1–62. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(00)80003-9

36.

(2020). Fathers’ involvement in Chinese societies: Increasing presence, uneven progress. Child Development Perspectives, 14(3), 150–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12375

37.

Lin

Xie

(2019). Chinese mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in toddler play activity: Type variations and gender differences. Early Child Development and Care, 189(2), 179–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1542529

38.

Markarian

S. A.

Pickett

S. M.

Deveson

D. F.

Kanona

B. B.

(2013). A model of BIS/BAS sensitivity, emotion regulation difficulties, and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in relation to sleep quality. Psychiatry Research, 210(1), 281–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.06.004

39.

Mattanah

J. F.

(2016). College student psychological adjustment: Theory, methods, and statistical trends. Momentum Press.

40.

McGregor

Gailliot

M. T.

Vasquez

N. A.

Nash

K. A.

(2007). Ideological and personal zeal reactions to threat among people with high self-esteem: Motivated promotion focus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(11), 1587–1599. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207306280

41.

Oshio

Nozaki

Kobayashi

(2012). Division of household labor and marital satisfaction in China, Japan, and Korea. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 34(2), 211–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9321-4

42.

Pagliaccio

Luking

K. R.

Anokhin

A. P.

Gotlib

I. H.

Hayden

E. P.

Olino

T. M.

Peng

C. Z.

Hajcak

Barch

D. M.

Barch

D. M.

(2016). Revising the BIS/BAS Scale to study development: Measurement invariance and normative effects of age and sex from childhood through adulthood. Psychological Assessment, 28(4), 429–442. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000186

43.

Pelton

Steele

Forehand

(2001). Discrepancy between mother and child perceptions of their relationship: II. Consequences for children considered within the context of maternal physical illness. Journal of Family Violence, 16(1), 17–35. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026572325078

44.

Ran

Zhang

Huang

(2018). Behavioral inhibition system and self-esteem as mediators between shyness and social anxiety. Psychiatry Research, 270(4), 568–573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.10.017

45.

Ravary

Baldwin

M. W.

(2018). Self-esteem vulnerabilities are associated with cued attentional biases toward rejection. Personality and Individual Differences, 126(1), 44–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.01.014

46.

Rosenberg

(1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press.

47.

Rosenberg

(1979). Conceiving the self. Basic Books.

48.

Schwarz

Mayer

Trommsdorff

Ben-Arieh

Friedlmeier

Lubiewska

Mishra

Peltzer

(2012). Does the importance of parent and peer relationships for adolescents’ life satisfaction vary across cultures? The Journal of Early Adolescence, 32(1), 55–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431611419508

49.

Shahzadi

Walker

B. R.

(2019). Reinforcement sensitivity theory and relationship satisfaction via mastery. Personality and Individual Differences, 139(34), 46–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.11.007

50.

Shek

D. T. L.

(2000). Differences between fathers and mothers in the treatment of, and relationship with, their teenage children: Perceptions of Chinese adolescents. Adolescence, 35(137), 135–146.

51.

McElwain

Lin

(2022). Parenting practices and emerging adult well-being in the United States and China. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 53(1), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs-2021-0032

52.

Suess

G. J.

Grossmann

K. E.

Sroufe

L. A.

(1992). Effects of infant attachment to mother and father on quality of adaptation in preschool: From dyadic to individual organisation of self. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 15(1), 43–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/016502549201500103

53.

Van Ryzin

M. J.

Fosco

G. M.

Dishion

T. J.

(2012). Family and peer predictors of substance use from early adolescence to early adulthood: An 11-year prospective analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 37(12), 1314–1324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.06.020

54.

Wang

Huebner

E. S.

Tian

(2021). Parent-child cohesion, self-esteem, and academic achievement: The longitudinal relations among elementary school students. Learning and Instruction, 73(1), 101467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101467

55.

Wang

Ollendick

T. H.

(2001). A cross-cultural and developmental analysis of self-esteem in Chinese and Western children. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 4(3), 253–271. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1017551215413

56.

Wood

J. V.

Heimpel

S. A.

Michela

J. L.

(2003). Savoring versus dampening: Self-esteem differences in regulating positive affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(3), 566–580. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.566

57.

Yanagisawa

Masui

Onoda

Furutani

Nomura

Yoshida

Ura

(2011). The effects of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems on social inclusion and exclusion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(2), 502–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.014

58.

Yao

(2000). An introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge University Press.

59.

Yeh

K.-H.

(2010). Relationalism: The essence and evolving process of Chinese interactive relationships. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3(1), 76–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750903528872

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.11 MB