Personal networks and psychological attributes: Exploring individual differences in personality and sense of community and their relationship to the structure of personal networks

Abstract

AbstractThe paper explores the relationship between personality characteristics, sense of community and the structure of personal networks. We collected personal network data from 100 adults, consisting of the information about their 45 alters and ties among them. In addition to the typically used bivariate correlations to analyze the relationship between individual psychological differences and network structure, we propose first the use of typologies of networks and personality and second modified versions of the triadic census in ego-networks. The results show that different personality types tend to occupy a different kind of networks and that newly introduced triadic measures show a relatively higher association with examined psychological attributes than global network measures. Overall, the Psychological Sense of Community showed higher associations with network measures than Big Five personality traits. The former was positively correlated with measures of closed triads among alters, but also with alters embedded in triads with weak ties. Regarding personality traits, Emotional Stability was positively correlated with strong closed triads and with the overall indicator of density. The elaboration of typologies and the census of triads are shown to be effective strategies for the description of personal networks, as well as for the analysis of individual psychological differences.