華人家長重複教養行為與大學生重複思考之關聯及對情緒適應的直接與間接預測效果

Abstract

過去研究發現重複思考與反芻對個體的適應通常弊多於利，且家長的教養方式可以預測子女未來的重複思考與反芻傾向。而家長教養、孩子重複思考傾向與適應三者的關聯在華人家庭互動的情境中可能有其文化殊異性，因為過往文獻指出，比起西方家長，華人家長較會在日常的對話反覆提及孩子過去所犯下的錯誤，並藉由見縫插針式的「機會教育」（opportunity education）來促進子女的道德發展。本研究欲探討臺灣父母的重複教養行為，是否與處於青少年後期/成年萌發期的大學生在人際情境中犯錯或懷疑自己犯錯時出現人際重複思考有關，且是否會進一步解釋其憂鬱與社交焦慮的傾向。為捕捉華人家長對於孩子在人際情境中應對進退的重複教養行為，本研究依據不同的教養方式（包含翻舊帳、羞恥誘發、同理誘發、關係誘發）設計問卷，並釐清其與大學生的重複思考內容（包含內在自我懷疑、公眾自我懷疑、他人導向自我懷疑）與模式（包含控制感、負面情緒）以及個體適應（憂鬱、焦慮）的關聯。總計365位18-25歲的大學或研究所在學學生參與本研究。先依據以上構念編製測量工具，在根據各項心理計量指標先進行修訂後，重複教養量表維持原始理論架構（四種重複教養方式的分量表），而重複思考量表因內在自我懷疑分量表的題項的心理計量品質大都不佳、且與反芻量表內的題項內容類似，故整個分量表刪除，最終分成兩種重複思考內容與兩種重複思考模式。相關與階層迴歸分析結果發現：家長對男生的同理誘發較多。重複思考內容、反芻、及憂鬱情緒沒有性別或年齡差異，但重複思考帶來的負面情緒與失去控制感則女生高於男生。大學低年級的學生比高年級學生有較高的社交焦慮。華人父母重複提起子女錯誤的翻舊帳教養，若同時與其他重複教養一同考量，則對於重複思考內容、模式或其適應狀態皆無顯著預測力，顯示重複教養本身對華人子女並無大礙，而是父母重複教養中所伴隨的教訓子女的內容，才會引發子女不適應的思考模式甚至負向情緒。以路徑分析檢驗家長教養、孩子重複思考傾向與適應三者的關聯則發現，即使已納入了負向情緒氣質與反芻的效果，重複思考內容與模式對於個體適應的額外解釋力仍達顯著，其中羞恥誘發為對非適應性的重複思考指標（包含公眾自我懷疑、控制感、負面情緒）以及個體的憂鬱與社交焦慮皆有直接或間接的顯著預測力，家長使用較多羞恥誘發的子女，更容易有非適應性的重複思考以及較差的適應狀態。同理誘發一方面可正向預測他人導向自我懷疑，進而負向預測憂鬱，亦可直接直接負向預測焦慮，顯示此教養模式對大學生適應可能具有的正向功能。他人導向自我懷疑則可負向預測憂鬱，顯示其對大學生憂鬱可能做為保護因子的角色。總之，本研究所新界定的重複教養與重複思考內容與模式，在排除既有構念（如：氣質、反芻）的效果後，仍可預測大學生的情緒適應，除顯示重複思考深植在處於青少年後期的個體的人際思維中，且值得繼續探討其生成因素及後續的發展結果。

Previous research has shown that repetitive thinking and rumination tend to be more detrimental than beneficial to individual adjustment, and that parenting practices can predict adolescents' tendencies toward repetitive thinking and rumination. The relations among parenting practices, adolescents' repetitive thinking, and their adjustment embedded in Chinese families may be culturally specific because, compared to Western parents, Chinese parents are more likely to repeatedly bring up their children's past mistakes in everyday conversations and use "opportunity education" to promote their children's moral development. This study aimed to examine whether Taiwanese parents' repetitive reminding of their children’s interpersonal flaws is associated with adolescents' repetitive thinking about their (possible) past mistakes during interpersonal encounters, which may further explain their depressive and social anxiety tendencies. To capture Chinese parents' repetitive oral disciplines related to their children's interpersonal flaws, this study designed a questionnaire describing different types of parental oral disciplines (such as reminding of past mistakes, shame induction, empathy induction, and relationship induction). The study further explored how different parental oral disciplines may relate to the contents (including internal self-doubt, image self-doubt, and other-oriented self-doubt) and patterns (including sense of losing control and negative emotions) of adolescent repetitive thinking, as well as their emotional adjustment (depression and anxiety). A total of 365 college students aged 18–25 participated in the study. Measurement tools were first developed for the aforementioned constructs and revised according to psychometric indicators, resulting in retaining the original four subscales for the parental repetitive discipline scale and removing the internal self-doubt subscale in the repetitive thinking scale. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses showed that parents used more empathy inductions on boys. The contents of repetitive thinking, rumination, and depressive emotions did not differ by gender or age. However, females reported higher negative emotions and a greater sense of losing control due to repetitive thinking. Compared with more senior students, lower-grade college students reported higher social anxiety. Bringing up old mistakes, when considered alongside other types of parental repetitive disciplines, did not significantly predict any content/pattern of repetitive thinking, ruminations, or emotional adjustment, suggesting that the repetitiveness of parental disciplines per se may not be harmful. Rather, the specific contents embedded in parents' repeated reminders of past mistakes may trigger adolescent habits of maladaptive thinkings. Path analyses examining the relation among parental repetitive oral disciplines, adolescent repetitive thinking, and emotional adjustment revealed that, while accounting for negative-affect temperament and rumination, the contents and patterns of repetitive thinking still significantly predicted the individual differences in emotional adjustment. Specifically, shame induction significantly predicted maladaptive repetitive thinking (e.g., image self-doubt, sense of losing control, and negative emotions) and either directly or indirectly explained the adjustment indices of depression and social anxiety. That is, adolescents exposed to more shame induction were more likely to show maladaptive repetitive thinking and poorer adjustment. Empathy induction positively predicted other-oriented self-doubt, which, in turn, negatively predicted depressive emotions, and it also directly predicted less social anxiety, suggesting a potential adaptive function of this type of parental discipline for college students' adjustment. That other-oriented self-doubt negatively predicted depression may indicate a possible protective role it could play against depressive emotions. In sum, the newly defined constructs of parental repetitive oral disciplines and the contents and patterns of adolescent repetitive thinking in this study were found to predict college students' emotional adjustment even when controlling for prior established constructs such as temperament and rumination, highlighting that repetitive thinking is deeply rooted in adolescent interpersonal cognition and warrants further exploration regarding its developmental antecedents and outcomes.