Impression Management and Psychological Well-being: Addressing Mediation by Moral Disengagement

Abstract

Background: Impression management exists in our daily lives. However, whether it enhances one’s psychological well-being remains underexplored. This study examines the relationship between impression management and psychological well-being, and whether the moral disengagement mediates this relationship.

Method: Crossectional study (N = 542, Mean age =18.59, SD = 2.11; gender: 46% males) was conducted. After collecting the data analyses were conducted on the data using SPSS 21 and PROCESS.

Results: The correlation analysis revealed that communal management associated positively with psychological well-being (r = .37) and negatively with Moral Disengagement (r = -.41). Agentic management associated negatively with psychological well-being (r = -.23) and positively with moral disengagement (r = .09). Moral disengagement associated negatively with psychological well-being (r = -.25). The mediation analysis presented that the direct effect of communal and agentic management on psychological well-being mediated by moral disengagement.

Conclusion: Results of the present study showed that a direct increase in psychological well-being due to impression management (communion and agentic) and moral disengagement is unstable. The relationship between impression management (communion and agentic) and psychological well-being decreases when impression management relied on moral disengagement.