Two Aspects of Psychological Reactance Traits: Focusing on the Association between Uniqueness and Collectivism

This study aimed to re-examine the factor structure of reactance traits in adults. The factor analysis of the Hong reactance scale extracted two factors: “Reactance for reactance” and “Desire for Freedom.” In partial correlations with personality variables, “Reactance for reactance” associated strongly positively with narcissism (rp=.70, p<.001), and “Desire for Freedom” associated weakly negatively with one (rp=-.31, p<.001). The path analysis showed that autonomy and self-display increased “Reactance for reactance” and “Desire for Freedom” (β=.16, p<.01; β=.31, p<.001). Autonomy increased “Desire for Freedom” (β=.59, p<.001). However, collectivism reduced “Reactance for reactance” and “Desire for Freedom” (β=-.26, p<.001; β=-.09, p=.062). This study revealed two aspects of reactance traits: “Reactance for reactance” and “Desire for Freedom.”