Satisfaction with interpersonal relationships: relationship with overall life satisfaction and psychological well-being

University students are in a developmental stage of "emerging adulthood". Animportant developmental task in this stage is identity exploration through the extension ofone's social network. These changes in the quantity and quality of interpersonalrelationships can have a considerable impact on one's satisfaction level in this lifedomain, which in turn can influence one's overall life satisfaction and psychologicalwellbeing further. With a sample of Chinese university students, the present study aimedto: (a) examine the university students' satisfaction levels with interpersonal relationshipsas compared with other salient life domains; (b) examine the relative salience ofsatisfaction with interpersonal relationships as compared with other salient life domainsin deriving one's overall life satisfaction; and (c) exploring the relationship of satisfactionwith interpersonal relationships and psychological wellbeing. Among the eight lifedomains that were assessed in this study, the level of satisfaction with interpersonalrelationships was ranked as the second highest. Both correlation and regression analysessuggested that satisfaction with interpersonal relationships was a pivotal life domain thatcontributed significantly to overall life satisfaction. The university students who weremore satisfied with their interpersonal relationships were higher in self-esteem and selfconceptclarity, experienced more positive and less negative affects, and reported lesssymptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. The paper discusses the implications of thesefindings. © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.