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THE FIVE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY AND INTERPERSONAL ...

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efforts to create and maintain a gratifying relationship This affection for the partner may<br />

be independent of their utilization of prosocial behaviors Alternatively, the<br />

conscientiousness-liking relationship may be mediated by maintenance behaviors, but<br />

those particular behaviors were not assessed in this study.<br />

The other distal factors, agreeableness and neuroticism, did not demonstrate<br />

independent effects after controlling the proximal factors These factors accounted for<br />

relatively little variance in liking when entered independently Therefore, the effects may<br />

simply be too small to examine adequately whether mediation by the proximal factors<br />

does in fact exist.<br />

In sum, the resuhs of this study indicated that elements in the distal and proximal<br />

contexts were related to one another and to liking for the partner More importantly, the<br />

distal factor of conscientiousness was directly related to liking (rather than indirectly<br />

related, as was presumed). This suggests that there may be other additional elements at<br />

work in this relationship that were not tested, or perhaps the contextual model is in need<br />

to further refinement Clearly, further research is needed to elucidate the interactions<br />

between the contexts.<br />

Future Directions<br />

First, a more heterogeneous sample might provide information concerning how<br />

demographic characteristics influence the relations between personaHty, interpersonal<br />

competence, and relationship quality For example, past research has found that gender<br />

differences in interpersonal behaviors such as self-disclosure influence relationship<br />

quality (Sprecher, 1987). Such differences could not be examined in the present study<br />

116

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