The implications of unmitigated agency and unmitigated communion for domains of problem behavior

Agency and communion are broad dimensions of personality that reflect a foc us on the self and a focus on others, respectively. Ln this article, we dis tinguish unmitigated agency, a focus on the self to the exclusion of others , from agency, and we distinguish unmitigated communion, a focus on others to the exclusion of self, from communion. We argue that it is unmitigated a gency and unmitigated communion that are linked to domains of problem behav ior, in particular relationship difficulties and poor health behavior. Unmi tigated agency and unmitigated communion are associated with a lack of supp ort from others, a reluctance to ask others for help, and a range of poor h ealth behaviors. The reasons for these links differ. The links to problem b ehavior for unmitigated communion individuals stem from their tendency to s ubjugate their own needs to the needs of others and their dependence on oth ers for esteem. The links to problem behavior for unmitigated agency indivi duals stem from their unwillingness to attend to relationships and their ne gative view of others.