社會關係催化的心理健康轉變

Social Relationships are a Catalyst for Mental Health Change

「社會學想像：心理健康的社會因素」專題的源起，在於呼籲國內學界，對心理健康的社會梯度以及蘊含其中的機制，提供更為豐富的考察，以挖掘隱藏在個人情緒背後的社會模式，指出造就心理健康差異的社會結構因素，並刻畫個人與社會在心理健康上的複雜聯繫。此專題收錄的三篇論文契合以上目的。第一篇論文針對成年初期的生命階段，驗證自我選擇論，即呈現年輕成人因心理困擾而信教的脈絡，會掩蓋宗教實踐對快樂感的後續正向功能。第二篇論文分析18歲以上的成人樣本，運用壓力過程模型，發現債務透過加劇經濟逆境與後續借貸的壓力增生過程，進而影響心理憂困。第三篇論文聚焦於56-85歲的中高齡生命階段，發現參與正式結社的長者，更能具備規律、帶有目標和掌握性的日常時間配置，也更不會擔心未來的老化生活。三篇論文共譜的社會現象則是：不論所處的生命階段，社會關係催化出多元的管道，深深影響著個人的心理健康。也就是說，宗教參與可打開高心理困擾年輕人的社會支持網絡；社會參與能讓中高齡者重獲時間使用的確定性，也就無暇擔心；但卡債者的心事揭露，卻可能造成更高的心理壓力與憂困。

The main purpose of this special issue, “sociological imagination: social causes of mental health”, is to entreat more domestic scholars to investigate the social gradient in mental health as well as its explanatory mechanisms in Taiwan. That is, the three essays in this issue aim to unearth social patterns of emotion, distinguish social factors of mental health differences, and clarify the complex relationships between individual psychological conditions and social causes. The first article indicates that the positive psychological function of religion on young adults’ happiness is suppressed by the effects of selfselection in religion; the second article suggests the association between indebtedness and psychological distress are mediated by stress proliferation resulted from more economic
adversities and indebtedness; and the third paper articulates that formal social participation enables older adults a regulative, purposive and controllable use of time, all of which are negatively associated with aging worry. The interwound finding of three articles is that social relationships are a catalyst of mental health change. For instance, attaining religious group activities expands social supportive network for distressed young adults, and formal social participation enables old adults to regain schedule compliance, which in turn lessens aging worry. However, for people with unsecured debt, expressing personal troubles leads to stress proliferation and psychological distress.