Social desirability and life satisfaction in Chinese students: Positive affect and self-esteem as the mediators and necessary conditions

Many studies in this field have focused on social desirability bias while neglecting the substance of social desirability. To address this gap, this study investigated the essence of social desirability and its relationship with life satisfaction among Chinese university students. We placed a particular emphasis on the mediating roles of positive affect and self-esteem, and on their roles in creating necessary conditions for life satisfaction. The cognitive appraisal and motivational theory of emotion and self-determination theory provided theoretical frameworks for understanding these relationships, along with their potential pathways. Our study offers substantive, rather than artifactual, interpretations suggesting that individuals with higher social desirability may exhibit higher life satisfaction, as they are more likely to adopt a path of self-deception.