| In 2017,General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that culture is the soul of a country and a nation.As the core of Chinese traditional cultural value system,Zhong-Yong has been deeply rooted in the national character and social psychology of the people.However,reviewing the concepts proposed at present research,such as“Zhong-Yong Thinking”and“Zhong-Yong Belief/Value”,it’s easily found that these concepts focused on the side of wisdom of life,while the moralization of life was left in the basket,that is to say,the measurement of Zhong-Yong did not contain the element of"goodness",which may affect the content validity of the measurement.Some researchers have pointed out that the measurement of Zhong-Yong can not only measure how Zhong-Yong’s individuals thinking and acting,but also measure what kinds of virtue and the possibility of practicing Zhong-Yong.The Zhong-Yong field refers to the basis of practicing Zhong-Yong for individuals entering the Zhong-Yong field,which is the necessary condition for the practice of the Zhong-Yong.In Confucian discourse,the Three Virtues including wisdom,benevolence and courage are regarded as the only way to practice Zhong-Yong.Zhu Xi concluded:"The general purpose of this article is to know the Three Virtues including wisdom,benevolence and courage is the door to Zhong-Yong...If one of the three virtues is abandoned,there’s no way to practice Zhong-Yong.Therefore,from the perspective of virtue,this study aims to compile Zhong-Yong Field Scale,and turn from focusing on the thinking,value and behavior strategies of Zhong-Yong to the exploration of the virtue meaning of Zhong-Yong,in order to make up for the shortcomings of existing research and provide a new perspective for the research of Zhong-Yong psychology.In addition,relevant theories and empirical studies showed that there’s a close relationship between Zhong-Yong and subjective well-being,but there’s no in-depth study on the mechanism.This study speculates that self-harmony and interpersonal distress may be the potential mediating factors between Zhong-Yong Field and subjective well-being.Firstly,according to Yang Zhong fang and Lin Sheng dong’s elaboration of the practical thinking system of Zhong-Yong,the life goal of Zhong-Yong is to maintain inner and interpersonal harmony.Secondly,in the existing empirical studies,the emphasis of Zhong-Yong was often emphasized:how to weigh the feelings of different individuals in dealing with interpersonal relations,so as to achieve harmonious coexistence;Or to emphasize cognitively how to see the Yin and Yang sides of things,and how those sides change dynamically over time.It can be seen that scholars share a common understanding that the goal of Zhong-Yong is to achieve a harmonious realm,which can be divided into two levels,namely,the ego level and the interpersonal relationship level.At the same time,harmony is an important feature of happiness in traditional Chinese culture.As Ryff et al said,cultural background not only affects an individual’s understanding of happiness,but also influences the practice of improving happiness.Compared with western people’s happiness orientation,Chinese people’s happiness is mainly characterized by improving their self-cultivation from both internal and external aspects.On the one hand,it emphasizes the harmony between the individual and others,so as to achieve the balance of the individual and the suitability of the external environment.Therefore,this study believes that the harmonious way brought by Zhong-Yong will have a strong impact on individual subjective well-being.Its internal mechanism is that by adjusting cognition and behavior in the middle realm,it can help to improve individuals’ability to adapt to the environment,achieve self-harmony,reduce interpersonal relationship problems,and ultimately improve individuals’subjective well-being.In conclusion,this study based on the Confucian classic proposition hypothesis the Three Virtues including wisdom,benevolence and courage can open the door to Zhong-Yong,compiles the scale of Zhong-Yong field which contains wisdom,benevolence and courage,and verify that self-harmony and interpersonal distress in mediating role between Zhong-Yong field and subjective well-being.Study 1:Objective:Compiling the scale of Zhong-Yong field which contains wisdom,benevolence and courage and test the reliability and validity of Zhong-Yong field Scale in Chinese youth.Methods:1170 subjects in Chinese mainland were randomly selected and divided into three samples.Sample 1 was used for exploratory factor analysis of the initial scale,Sample 2 was used to determine the formal scale and test its structural validity and scale validity,and sample 3 was used to further test the relationship between the middle range and some mental health indicators.Results:Three factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis,and the results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale structure validity was good(χ~2/df=2.51,CFI=0.94,TLI=0.92,IFI=0.94,RMSEA=0.07).The internal consistency coefficient and combination reliability of the scale were 0.92 and 0.90.The internal consistency reliability of the wisdom,benevolence and courage subscales were 0.87,0.86 and 0.83.The reliability of the re-test was 0.78 after four weeks.The correlation between Zhong-Yong field and Zhong-Yong Opinion Expression,Zhong-Yong belief/value and the four dimension of Zhong-Yong practice self-assessment were0.73,0.71,0.63,0.62,0.27 and 0.25.Conclusion:Zhong-Yong field scale has good reliability and validity in Chinese youth and it’s an effective tool to measure the meaning of Zhong-Yong virtue.Study 2:Objective:To explore the internal influence mechanism of Zhong-Yong field on subjective well-being,and discuss the chain mediating effect of self-harmony and interpersonal distress between them.Methods:Taking 387 college students as subjects,and using Zhong-Yong field Scale,Self-Consistency and Congruence Scale,Interpersonal Comprehensive Diagnostic Scale,Satisfaction With Life Scale,and Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale launched an investigation.Results:(1)Zhong-Yong field was positively correlated with self-harmony(r=0.21,p<0.01),and negatively correlated with interpersonal distress(r=-0.18,p<0.01),and positively correlated with subjective well-being(r=0.49,p<0.01);Self-harmony was negatively correlated with interpersonal distress(r=-0.53,p<0.01),and positively correlated with subjective well-being(r=0.55,p<0.01);Interpersonal distress was negatively correlated with subjective well-being(r=-0.51,p<0.01);(2)Zhong-Yong field affected subjective well-being through two ways:The first is the single mediating effect of self-harmony(β=0.09,p<0.01,95%CI[0.05,0.14]);The second is the chain mediating effect from self-harmony to interpersonal distress(β=0.03,p<0.01,95%CI[0.02,0.06]).Conclusion:Self-harmony and interpersonal distress play a chain mediating role between Zhong-Yong field and subjective well-being.Study 3:Objective:To validate the chain mediation model determined in Study2 through a longitudinal design.Methods:Taking 253 college students as subjects,follow-up studies were conducted at intervals of 1 month,using the same tools as study 2.Results:(1)After controlling T1 subjective well-being,the prediction effect of T1 Zhong-Yong field on T2 subjective well-being is still significant(β=0.25,p<0.01,95%CI[0.11,0.46]);(2)T1 Zhong-Yong field can directly affect T2subjective well-being(β=0.18,p<0.01,95%CI[0.01,0.04]),and it can also indirectly influence T2 subjective well-being through the separate mediating effect of T2 self-harmony(β=0.06,p<0.01,95%CI[0.01,0.14])and the chain mediating effect from T2self-harmony to T2 interpersonal distress(β=0.02,p<0.01,95%CI[0.01,0.04]).Conclusion:Self-harmony and interpersonal distress play a longitudinal chain mediating role between Zhong-Yong field and subjective well-being.Conclusion:(1)Zhong-Yong field scale had good reliability and validity in Chinese youth and it’s an effective tool to measure the meaning of Zhong-Yong virtue;(2)Zhong-Yong field was positively correlated with agreeableness,meaning in life,life satisfaction and self-authenticity,and negatively correlated with dark triad and aggression;(3)Among College students in China,Zhong-Yong field can significantly predict subjective well-being;(4)Self-harmony played a partially mediating role between Zhong-Yong field and subjective well-being,that is to say,Zhong-Yong field influenced individual’s subjective well-being through affecting individual’s self-harmony;(5)Self-harmony and interpersonal distress played a chain mediating role between Zhong-Yong field and subjective well-being,and the independent mediating role of interpersonal distress was not significant,that is to say,Zhong-Yong field affected the individual’s self-harmony firstly,then affected interpersonal distress,and finally affected individual’s subjective well-being. |
