友誼疏離對心理健康之效應：華人「緣」與「分」信念之緩衝

The Effect of Friendship Alienation on Mental Health: The Buffering Effects of the Chinese“Yuan”and“Fen”Beliefs

友誼疏離是許多華人共同有過的生命困境，特別是對被疏離方的心理健康有著不可忽視的負面影響。在華人社會中，緣分對關係困境的適應作用已被提出，但以往研究多是將「緣」與「分」兩者區分開來，探討兩者各自的效果。本研究首先提出緣分「共同運作」的假設，強調兩者的交互作用可對友誼疏離的困境產生緩衝作用，以發揮適應的功效。是故，本研究目的即在探討「緣」、「分」在友誼疏離後發揮的作用，包括「友誼疏離」對「心理健康」的影響，以及「緣」、「分」信念在其中的調節作用。本研究以18 歲以上成人為對象，透過網路問卷蒐集資料。請參與者填寫友誼疏離經驗、緣分信念、寂寞感、生活滿意度與主觀快樂等量表。結果除了顯示比起無友誼疏離經驗者，兩年內曾經歷被要好的朋友疏離的人，的確有較差的心理健康以外，更重要的研究結果為：(1)「緣」、「分」信念若同時運作的話，對疏離經驗對心理健康的負面影響具緩衝作用；但緣、分若單獨分開運作，對於疏離經驗對心理健康的負面影響並不具緩衝作用；(2) 值得留意的是，在「緣」信念偏低的情況，「分」信念愈高，疏離經驗反而不利於主觀快樂與生活滿意度。整體而言，緣分共同運作可對友誼疏離的負面效果有緩衝作用，但在特定情況下，緣分並非如先前文獻所言，對負向關係皆有正面功能，此點值得留意。最後，針對研究結果做進一步討論，並指出研究限制與研究方向。

Friendship alienation is a common dilemma experienced by many Chinese people in life. It especially has negative impacts on the mental health of the alienated party, which cannot be ignored. The role of “yuanfen” ( 緣分) in adapting to relationship dilemmas has already been put forward and yuanfen has recently been subdivided into beliefs in “yuan” ( 緣 ) and “fen” ( 分 ). However, yuan and fen beliefs were for the most part hypothesized in the past to have respective effects on psychological adaptation. This paper first proposes the hypothesis that yuan and fen belief can work together (interact) to buffer the negative effects of friendship alienation on mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the roles of the yuan and fen beliefs following friendship alienation, including the effect of “friendship alienation” on “mental health” and the moderating role of yuan and fen beliefs. In this study, adults aged 18 and above were adopted as subjects. Data was collected through online questionnaires. Participants were requested to fill out assessment scales measuring friendship alienation experiences, their yuan and fen beliefs, sense of loneliness, satisfaction with life, subjective happiness, etc. The results show that compared with those without experiences of friendship alienation, people who had experienced estrangement from their friends within two years indeed showed poorer mental health. The research results with greater significance show that 1) If the yuan and fen beliefs operate simultaneously, they play a buffering role on the negative impacts of alienation experience on mental health. If they both operate independently however, they do not have a buffering effect on the negative impacts of the alienation experience on mental health; and 2) It is worth noting that in situations where belief in yuan is low, and the belief in fen is higher, the more likely an experience of alienation would jeopardize subjective happiness and satisfaction with life. Overall, the joint operation of the beliefs in yuan and fen may play a buffering role in the negative effects of friendship alienation. Nevertheless, it is also worth noting that under specific circumstances, yuan and fen do not always have positive effects on negative relationships as mentioned in the preceding literature. Finally, the research results were targeted for further discussion. The research limitations and directions were also indicated.