نگرانی چهره؛ نقش آن در روابط تنش ـ پریشانی در میان آمریکایی های چینی

This study examined the effects of face concern and social support on stress–distress relationships, after controlling for preexisting distress and demographic characteristics in a stratified community sample of Chinese Americans (n = 1503). Emotional support and instrumental support from family and friends were found to significantly predict psychological distress among Chinese Americans in addition to face-related daily hassles and financial strain. Face concern emerged as an important contributing factor above and beyond social support and stress variables although no interaction effect between face and face-related stressors was found. Testing this culturally salient variable has furthered our understanding of the stress–distress experiences of Chinese Americans and provided important implications for cultural dynamics in social relationships.

In recent years, the study of social-relation effects on distress has been expanded among immigrants and ethnic minorities (e.g., Kleinman, 1988 and Lin, 1996). Despite the abundance of stress–distress research (Brookings and Bolton, 1997 and Taylor and Aspinwall, 1996), only in the recent decade did researchers begin to pay close attention to the influence of culturally salient variables (i.e., acculturation, self-construals) on stress–distress relationships (Mak et al., 2005, Okazaki, 2002 and Shen and Takeuchi, 2001). The importance of incorporating specific cultural variables and addressing the issue of external validity in psychological research has been increasingly recognized (Betancourt and Lopez, 1993 and Sue, 1999). Constructs that have substantial bearing in a particular culture can influence the way individuals interpret their daily experiences and express their distress. The present study attempts to explore the utility of face concern, a psychosocial variable that is salient in East Asian cultures, on stress–distress relationships in a large community sample of Chinese Americans. In particular, the purposes of this study are threefold: (1) to test the ameliorating role of social support on distress, (2) to determine the added value of face concern above and beyond social support on distress, accounting for demographics, preexisting psychological distress, and various types of stressor, and (3) to examine the possible interaction effects between face concern and face-related stressors on distress. 1.1. Social support Social support encompasses psychosocial constructs that represent the perception of resource availability and the ability to elicit support from different sources. It can be conceptualized along different dimensions according to their functions and qualities: emotional support refers to the perception of being loved and cared for and is based on one’s cognitive appraisal of his or her relationships with significant others (Cobb, 1976); instrumental support refers to the material assistance that individuals receive from others or project that they can extract from others (Schwarzer & Leppin, 1991). Given the meaning of emotional and instrumental support and their effects on the individuals may be different, it is important that both forms of support be accounted for in the analysis. In past studies, social support has been found to be negatively associated with psychological distress among Asian and European American populations (e.g., Dalgard et al., 1995, Kuo and Tsai, 1986, Lin and Lai, 1995 and Sarason et al., 1985). In the present investigation, social support, as indicated by both emotional and instrumental support, is hypothesized to be negatively related to psychological distress among Chinese Americans. 1.2. Face concern Although the ameliorative role of social support is well-established, the role of face concern on distress awaits to be examined. Face concern is a culturally salient construct on social representation that may be particularly important in the understanding of distress among Asians. Face (mian zi) has been identified as a key interpersonal dynamic in East Asian cultures ( Bond, 1991, Ho, 1976, Hu, 1944 and Ting-Toomey, 1994). It is one’s social image and social worth that is garnered based on one’s performance in an interpersonal contexts ( Choi and Lee, 2002 and Hwang, 1997–1998). According to Hu (1944), face represents a person’s social position or prestige gained by performing one or more specific social roles that are well recognized by others. It is independent from another construct of face (lian) that is related to the meeting of moral and ethical standards that are set forth by one’s social network and has the implication of shame if one falls short of meeting such moral demands ( Ho, 1976 and Hwang, 1997–1998). In recent works, face concern has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, under which individuals may emphasize concerns over self-face (concern for one’s own image), other-face (concern for other’s image), or mutual face (concern for each other’s image) in conflict situations and communication contexts (Oetzel and Ting-Toomey, 2003, Ting-Toomey and Kurogi, 1998 and Ting-Toomey, 2005). Similar psychological concepts such as constructive and defensive chemyon have also been identified in Korea (Choi & Lee, 2002). In the present study, a unitary, trait-like conception of face concern based on Zane and Yeh’s (2002) work was used to understand Chinese Americans’ distress experience. Its conception is akin to self-face or defensive chemyon that focuses on the concern over retention or protection of one’s own image from social threats. Given the socio-contextual nature of face, face concern may be a powerful construct that affects the distress experience of Chinese Americans. According to the face negotiation theory (Ting-Toomey, 2005), concern over loss of one’s face can potentially intensify one’s distress and moderate the effects of stress on psychological distress, especially when the stressors pose threats to one’s face. For instance, people with high self-face concern may be particularly prone to experience distress if they experience relational/financial stressors that compromise their ability to perform their respective roles and maintain their own face. On the other hand, people who have low self-face concern may be less affected by their reduced ability to fulfill their roles. Despite the importance of face concern in social relationships, few studies have used it as an individual difference variable to examine its effect on well-being. Previous research on distress experiences has identified stress as a significant contributor, and social relations have been found to ameliorate distress (Barrera, 2000, Lin and Lai, 1995, Taylor and Aspinwall, 1996 and Turner et al., 1983). We suggest that in addition to social relations, culturally salient variables such as face concern should be incorporated in the study of stress–distress relationships. Based on the above theoretical conceptualization, we hypothesize that face concern is positively related to psychological distress, above and beyond the effect of social support on distress. Its relationship with various types of face-related stressors will be explored as well to examine its possible moderating role on distress.