探索成年初顯期特徵、家庭經濟與心理健康之關聯

An Exploration of the Relationships among the Characteristics of Emerging Adulthood, Mental Health, and the Family Financial Condition

研究目的：成人初顯期的觀點已經廣泛應用到西方的實證研究上，然而現有研究缺乏華人多元家庭經濟背景之學生樣本，並同時探究消極與積極心理健康與成年初顯期特徵之關聯。再者，貧困不利心理健康，貧窮者無法自由探索與選擇生活型態，故貧困與非貧之學生在成人特徵與心理健康可能不同。雖然不少文獻支持家庭經濟影響個體的心理健康，然而成人地位是否調節該關聯則缺乏實證。研究方法：以網路問卷調查與分析1,444位臺灣與金門的公私立大學生資料以澄清上述議題。研究結果：本研究發現貧困學生在實驗性、介於中間的得分較非貧困者低。此外，階層迴歸分析（hierarchical regression）指出實驗性、專注自我有利心理健康，負面不穩定則增加憂鬱情緒與減弱幸福感；納入成年初顯期特徵後，家庭經濟仍顯著預測心理健康，成人地位具有調節影響力。進一步分析發現，貧困且達成人者其心理健康狀況亟需臨床關注。研究結論：基於研究發現建議社會福利資源延續對上大學之弱勢青年的協助以降低貧窮的影響。透過教育宣導與專業訓練，提升校園內對青年心理健康需求的敏感度與處遇能力，並且建立圓夢機制，提高青年探索新事物與專注自我的機會。

Purpose: The perspective of emerging adulthood has been broadly examined in western societies, but several knowledge gaps are evident. The first is a lack of research using non-white participants with diverse socioeconomic family backgrounds that takes well-being into account when considering mental health. Second, empirical evidence suggests that family poverty causes children to mature early, limits young people’s self-exploration, and prevents them from choosing their desired lifestyle. Hence, young people from families with different socioeconomic backgrounds may exhibit differences in terms of their characteristics in emerging adulthood. Empirical evidence has also long supported an association between poverty and poor mental health. However, whether adulthood moderates the association remains unknown. Methods: We investigated this question by conducing hierarchical regression analyses of data from 1,444 college students in Taiwan. Results: We identified 3 major findings: (1) Poor students had lower scores on experimentation and feeling in between youth and adulthood. (2) The hierarchical regression analyses indicated that experimentation and self-focused characteristics are protective factors for mental health, whereas instability is a risk factor for mental health. After controlling for characteristics in emerging adulthood, family economic status still predicted mental health with significant accuracy. (3) Adulthood had moderating effects. Poor students who were adults had the worst mental health. Conclusions: Three suggestions regarding policies and services for college students’ mental health are provided: (1) in order to reduce the impact of poverty, continue to provide assistance to disadvantaged youths who go to college; (2) enhance school counselors’ ability to identify disadvantaged youths early so as to serve them better; (3) establish a mechanism for fulfilling the dreams of disadvantaged youths in order to improve their mental health.