心理社會資源與壓力增生作為債務與心理憂困之間的中介因子

Psychosocial Resources and Stress Proliferation as Mediators between Indebtedness and Psychological Distress

儘管有大量證據顯示債務與心理健康結果之間的關係，探索其間的中介因子之研究卻仍然有限。援引壓力過程模型的典範，本研究檢視債務是否以及如何透過心理社會資源與壓力增生的中介過程，而對個人心理健康造成影響，並評估這些不同影響路徑的相對強度。利用具有全國代表性之樣本（2007年台灣社會變遷基本調查計畫：第五期第三次），並搭配更為先進的因果性中介分析方法，本研究發現，與財務相關之壓力增生事件，包括過去一年內遭遇經濟逆境的數目與是否向人借貸，皆能顯著中介初始債務壓力源與心理憂困的關係，不論初始債務中是否含有卡債。然而，若初始債務之中含有卡債，其和心理憂困之間的連結，還會進一步透過過去一年內表露（不特定）煩惱或心事加以中介，顯示當初始債務中含有卡債時，更有可能引發經濟生活以外的次級壓力源，而對心理健康造成影響。本研究顯示當債務類型能夠加以區分之時，壓力過程模型有助於揭露「債務－健康」關係的潛在機制。

Abundant evidence exists for the association between indebtedness and mental health outcomes, yet research identifying mediators of this relationship remains scarce. We used representative data from the 2007 Taiwan Social Change Survey to conduct causal mediation analyses to evaluate a range of potential mediators related to psychosocial resources and stress proliferation suggested by the paradigm of stress process model. After robust control for confounds, we found significant mediation between the primary stressor of accruing debt, regardless of its type, and psychological distress through stress proliferation characterized by greater economic adversity encountered in the past year and increased odds of borrowing money from others in the past year. When unsecured debt was involved in the primary stressor, additional mediation was observed through increased odds of expressing - personal troubles in the past year. We concluded that the stress process model is useful in revealing the underlying mechanism between debt and health, especially when a distinction is made between types of debt.