Self-construals and Subjective Well-being: The Roles of Self-esteem and Fitting Harmony

人生在世，無不期望幸福，而目標的達成是一個人幸福的來源。從文化與自我相互建構的觀點，不同文化下的人擁有不同自我建構（獨立自我vs.相依自我），而追求不同的目標，因此其幸福感的來源基礎應當有所不同。過去的文獻都指出，華人社會是一個集體主義的社會（相對於北美的個人主義），華人的自我是一種相依式的自我；與他人的相融和諧應當是華人重要的幸福感來源。然而，筆者假設：在文化交流頻繁的情況下，當代華人應當同時具有兩種自我建構的特色，一方面，獨立自我可能透過整體自尊而獲得其幸福感，相依自我則以與他人的相融和諧為其幸福感來源。筆者也對自尊的概念作一初步的釐清，認為相融和諧也可以成為個人整體自尊來源，進而影響個人主觀幸福。筆者讓425位參與者接受自我建構（包括獨立自我與相依自我）、整體自尊、相融和諧、以及主觀幸福感（包括生活滿意、正向情緒、負向情緒）等量表的施測，結果發現：當代以台灣為代表的華人，確實兼有相依自我與獨立自我建構的特色，而徑路分析的結果也支持了前述的假設。本研究也發現：自我建構量表的因素分析結果，獨立自我的部分可以抽成兩個因素，一為自我表達，一為追求獨立；進行階層迴歸分析後，發現除了相依自我外，善於自我表達也是有助於與人相融和諧的因素。最後，筆者除了對本研究的反省與限制作一討論外，也提出一些未來可能的研究方向。Subjective well-being (SWB) or happiness, which is acquired from achieving one’s goals, is the ultimate motivator for all humans. The theory of self-construals states that people from different cultures have different self-construls (independent vs. interdependent), and pursue different cultural imperatives or everyday life tasks (goals). It has been pointed out that Chinese people have interdependent self-construl, which emphasizes fitting in and maintaining harmonious relationships with important others. However, the author hypothesized that the two views of the self might coexist in Chinese people in Taiwan in the face of the vast-scale cultural invasion from the West. The independent self was proposed to be the predictor of SWB, acting through the mediating variable of global self-esteem, whereas the interdependent self to be predictor of SWB, acting through the mediating variable of fitting-harmony (which means fitting in and maintaining harmonious relationships with important others). It was also hypothesized that fitting-harmony might be an important domain on which self-esteem is contingent; therefore, self-esteem is expected to mediate the effect on SWB for those higher in fitting-harmony. 425 participants completed the self-construl scale, self-esteem scale, fitting-harmony scale, and SWB scale. It was found that the two self-views coexist in Chinese people in Taiwan and the results of path analyses supported the hypotheses described above. Moreover, the result of exploratory factor analysis of self-construal scale showed that the items for independent self could be divided into two factors: self-expression and independence-pursuit. In addition to interdependent self, self-expression was also a significant predictor of fitting-harmony. The results, limitations, and future directions were discussed