Who is most likely to seek and give support in the face of agentic and communal threat? The roles of extraversion and agreeableness

- Extraverts are more likely to seek social support in response to threat to agency.
- Extraverts are also less likely to provide support in response to threat to agency.
- Those high on agreeableness tend to seek support in response to communal threat.
- Those high on agreeableness tend to provide support in response to communal threat.

Agentic threat tends to elicit support seeking and hinder support provision. Communal threat tends to elicit support seeking and provision. We examined whether the associations between threats and support are moderated by Extraversion and Agreeableness. Three hundred fifty undergraduate students completed questionnaires twice daily across one week, reporting the worst stressor of the half-day, appraisals of agentic and communal threats, and efforts to seek and provide support. In response to agentic threat, those higher in Extraversion increased their support seeking and decreased their support provision to a greater extent than those lower in Extraversion. In response to communal threat, those higher in Agreeableness increased their support seeking and provision to a greater extent than those lower in Agreeableness.