Uncertainty and Confidence in Interpersonal Projects: Consequences for Social Relationships and Well-Being

To examine the extent to which the appraisal of interpersonal projects influences people's social relationships and well-being, 202 female students were asked to complete the Personal Projects Analysis (PPA), the revised Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and to answer several self-report measures of social relationships. Then, one year later, they completed the UCLA Loneliness scale, the Perceived Stress scale, the revised BDI and several self-report measures of social relationships. Two groups of students were identified on the basis of their PPA ratings: (1) the socially confident group, with positive and confident appraisals (n = 74) of their interpersonal projects, and (2) the socially uncertain group, with negative and uncertain appraisals (n = 35). The results showed that the women in the socially uncertain group reported more negative interactions with their parents and with their boyfriend/spouse, and also fewer new acquaintances, than the socially confident women. Moreover, they showed higher levels of depression, stress and loneliness, but lower levels of self-esteem.