Agreeableness and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support as a Coping-Relevant Resource and the Moderating Effect of Family Income

This study investigates the role of Agreeableness as a personality trait in promoting psychological well-being, with a specific focus on the potential mediating mechanism of social support, and how this pathway is influenced by family's income. 3206 college students from China's universities were recruited from Internet, randomly. Subjects were demanded to complete the Agreeableness Subscale of Chinese Big Five Inventory Brief version (CBF-PI-B), the Chinese Campbell Index of Well-Being (Campbell IWB), the Chinese Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) and demographic variables. The results, analyzed using a moderated mediation procedure, confirmed that perceived social support mediates the relationship between Agreeableness and subjective well-being. Furthermore, family yearly income was found to significantly moderate the first stage of this mediation pathway. Specifically, the positive associative effect of Agreeableness on perceived social support was stronger for individuals with lower annual family income. This result suggests that, for those with fewer economic resources, a prosocial and agreeable disposition is a particularly critical asset for building the social support networks that subsequently enhance well-being. The findings highlight the complex interplay between personality and socioeconomic context, indicating that social support serves as a healthy coping mechanism, the utility of which is conditionally shaped by an individual's financial circumstances.