HKIER

Abstract

The present article discusses the patterns of coping strategies among a group of college students in Beijing. Specially designed questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data for the study. Results indicated that to cope with stress in their academic underachievement, emotional frustrations, interpersonal conflicts and others, the Chinese college students used a variety of strategies, including culturally appropriate ones such as self-reflection, endurance, self-control, Ah-Qism, take-it-easy/let-happen-what-may. The practical implications of the strategies are explored in relation to the current social and political realities in China. Additionally, the experiential and psychosoical significance of the culturally appropriate coping strategies are analyzed in terms of the Confucian ethics of self-cultivation and the Taoist ethics of self-transcendence. The analyses demonstrate that the coping strategies foster a sense of enlightened awareness of the dynamics of conflicts in the mundane world and that attainment of inner harmony "he" constitutes the cultural protocol for coping with stress in Chinese society. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the present study on further researches on the issue being explored.

摘要

本文試圖以族誌學（ethnographic）的方法來研究中國大學生應付不同心理壓抑的方法。本研究通過自行設計的兩份問卷調查了北京四所大學中120名大學生所常用的心理壓力應付策略。此外，本研究還採訪了其中30名學生。調查結果表明：中國大學生運用了許多與中國文化與當前社會背景相適宜的應付策略。本文從儒家與道家之修身養性的論說探討了這些應付策略的文化根源與心理特點，並提出辯證協調矛盾衝突是中國人應付內、外壓力之哲學思想基礎。本文最後呼籲今後多採用質性與量性相結合的方法來研究中國文化對於個人應付心理壓抑的影響。