職場人際壓力源與憂鬱、焦慮之關聯：同理心與職場零和信念的調節角色

Abstract

目的：職場中的人際壓力不僅常見，而且對工作者的心理健康而言是不可忽視的威脅因子。研究指出，同理心與人際壓力事件下的適應性因應有正向關聯，且同理反應是跨文化的正向關係因應策略。然而，環境的競爭氛圍會影響同理反應的展現與後果，故零和信念作為個體對於職場中“一方得则另一方失”的認知，可能會抑制同理心的保護角色。本研究首先釐清華人職場人際壓力源作為預測因子，與憂鬱、焦慮症狀之關聯；再者，透過調節分析，探討同理心可否減弱職場人際壓力源對於憂鬱與焦慮症狀的預測力，即扮演保護因子的角色；最後，檢驗職場零和信念是否會削弱同理心的上述保護作用。方法：本研究以268名跨產業的台灣工作者為有效樣本，透過網路招募而來，平均年齡為30.51± 5.73歲，60.1%為女性。使用網路問卷的形式，請參與者完成職場人際壓力源量表、同理心量表、職場零和信念量表、中文版憂鬱焦慮與壓力量表（DASS-21-C）等自陳式量表。結果：（1）部分職場人際壓力源是工作者的憂鬱、焦慮之預測因子；（2）觀點取替是保護因子，可降低人際維穩壓力源對於憂鬱症狀的預測力；（3）同理關懷是干擾因子，會強化人際偏執壓力源對焦慮症狀的預測力；（4）職場零和信念會削弱觀點取替對人際維穩壓力源預測憂鬱症狀的保護效果；（5）年齡對職場零和信念具顯著影響，年齡愈大，職場零和信念程度愈低；（6）年齡具有削弱觀點取替對人際維穩壓力源預測憂鬱症狀之保護效果的趨勢。討論：本研究嘗試以壓力因應取向、華人文化因素、認知適應等角度探討研究結果的可能解釋，最後說明本研究貢獻、臨床意涵、限制與未來研究方向。

OBJECTIVE: It is common for employee to encounter interpersonal stress in workplace, which can be a threat to their mental health. Previous research has reported a positive correlation between empathy and adaptive coping under interpersonal stress events. Empathetic response is also a coping strategy of positive relationships across cultures. However, the competitive atmosphere in the environment will affect the demonstration and consequence of empathetic response. Therefore, zero-sum belief may restrain the protective role of empathy, as it reflects the individual’s cognition that one’s gain makes other’s loss. The current study first clarified how the context-specific interpersonal stressor in Chinese organization could predict depression and anxiety; then tested whether empathy may play a protective role and weaken the predictive power of workplace interpersonal stress on depression and anxiety through moderator analysis; finally, examined whether the workplace zero-sum belief will diminish the protective functions of empathy. METHOD: Two hundred and sixty-eight workers from various companies were recruited via the Internet advertisement, with average age 30.51 years and 60.1% female. They completed the self-report questionnaires online, including the Interpersonal Stressor Measurement for Employees, Empathy Scale, self-designed Workplace Zero-sum Belief Scale, and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale Chinese version (DASS-21-C). RESULTS: (1) Part of the workplace interpersonal stressors predicted employee’s depression and anxiety; (2) Perspective taking played as a protective factor to weaken the predictive power of the interpersonal harmony maintaining stressor on employee’s depression; (3) Empathic concern displayed interference effect to strengthen the predictive power of the interpersonal egoism stressors on employee’s anxiety; (4) Workplace zero-sum belief diminished the protection effects of perspective taking on the interpersonal harmony maintaining stressor’s prediction of depression; (5) Age significantly affected the workplace zero-sum belief, in that older employee reported higher levels of workplace zero-sum belief; and (6) A trend effect of age was noted that age weakened the protective effects of perspective taking on the predictive link from interpersonal harmony maintaining stressor to depression. DISCUSSIONS: The current study attempted to explain the above findings from the perspectives of stress coping orientation, Chinese cultural factors and cognitive adaptability. In conclusion, contributions of the current study, clinical implications, study limitations, and suggestions for future research were discussed.