Fanchang Kong1,*, Sujie Meng2, Xiaoyao Li2 and Shuangting Yu2
Affiliation: 1School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China and 2School of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyber Psychology and Behavior (Ministry of Education), Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
*Email: [email protected]
Abstract: Personality has proven to be one of the most crucial factors of self-disclosure during social interaction. Prior research has explored the effect of personality on self-disclosure in online or offline communication, but few studies examine the effect of both online and offline self-disclosures together. Thus, the current study was to fill the gap among college students. Jourard’s Self-Disclosure Questionnaire and the Big Five Inventory are administered to a sample of 347 students who frequently use social network sites. Results showed that the dimensions of agreeableness and emotional stability of personality significantly predicted participants’ self-disclosure in offline communication while the dimensions of extraversion and openness of personality significantly predicted self-disclosure in online communication. Meanwhile, the dimension of conscientiousness of personality can significantly predict participants’ self-disclosure in both online and offline communication. It suggests that personality affects self-disclosure with different patterns in online and offline communication. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Self-Disclosure; Online Communication; Offline Communication; Personality; Social Compensation.