Influence of College Students' Agreeableness on Interpersonal Relationships: Moderating Role of Empathy

This study explored the moderating influence of empathy on agreeableness in interpersonal relationships among Chinese college students. Surveys and tests were conducted among a representative sample of 834 college students from four universities in Yunnan, China. Structural equation models were used to test causality and moderation. Support was found for a model that identified agreeableness and empathy as valid predictors of interpersonal relationships and empathy as a moderating influence between agreeableness and interpersonal relationships. These results suggest that the growth of interpersonal relationships for agreeable students is suppressed by higher levels of empathy. In addition, lower levels of empathy may promote the growth of interpersonal relationships for agreeable students. The results suggest that enhancing empathy is not always applicable to all groups of individuals and that training methods aimed at reducing empathy may be used to ameliorate bad interpersonal relationship in students with agreeable personality traits.