The Direct and Indirect Relationship between Interpersonal Self-Support Traits and Perceived Social Support: A Longitudinal Study

Based on our previous cross-sectional survey, the current study investigated the longitudinal relationship between interpersonal self-support traits and perceived social support in another sample. A sample of 502 Chinese high school students completed the Interpersonal Self-Support Scale for Adolescent Students (ISSS-AS), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) twice across a 6-month interval. The longitudinal path analysis revealed that after controlling for initial perceived social support, interpersonal initiative and interpersonal flexibility were related to perceived social support six months later through the mediating role of enacted social support at Time1. In addition, interpersonal flexibility was directly associated with perceived social support six months later. The current findings suggested that the interpersonal traits of interpersonal flexibility and interpersonal initiative were related to perceived social support cross time, and might discover a new interpersonal trait related to perceived social support.