Confucian Culture Still Matters

Abstract

Zhongyong thinking (Doctrine of the Mean) is a traditional Confucius interpersonal style with emphasis on interpersonal harmony and connection. In contemporary society, is Zhongyong thinking beneficial to, or has Zhongyong thinking become an old-fashioned idea with trivial or even detrimental influence on mental health? The current study explored the relationship of Zhongyong thinking and mental health measures in two studies. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey involving a large representative sample of 8,178 Chinese undergraduate students. We found that Zhongyong thinking was negatively associated with anxiety ( r = −.23, p < .01) and depressive symptoms ( r = −.32, p < .01), but positively associated with self-esteem ( r = .28, p < .01). Compared with low-Zhongyong group, those who scored high on the Zhongyong Thinking Scale had substantially lower scores on anxiety and depressive symptoms, and had higher scores on self-esteem and life satisfaction. In Study 2, we experimentally intervened in Zhongyong thinking in 30 mildly depressed students, comparing mental health outcomes with a randomized control group ( n = 30) who received regular supportive group intervention. We found that training in Zhongyong thinking was more effective in alleviating depressive symptoms compared with the control group. The two studies prove from different aspects that Zhongyong thinking still plays an important role in regulating mental distress and maintaining subjective well-being among contemporary Chinese young adults. Why Zhongyong thinking is beneficial, and how to transmit this traditional cultural heritage to promote emotion regulation strategies are discussed.

Parenting Style and Emotional Distress Among Chinese College Students: A Potential Mediating Role of the Zhongyong Thinking Style

“…This study further demonstrated that Zhongyong thinking was negatively and moderately correlated with depressive symptoms, and negatively and mildly correlated with anxiety symptoms. This result was consistent with previous findings (Zhan et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2016). Zhongyong thinking is therefore related to emotional distress of Chinese college students.…”

“…Based on the diathesis-stress model, individuals with some personality traits, such as poor self-esteem (Nguyen et al, 2019), low self-directedness and cooperativeness (Lim et al, 2018), low agreeableness (Roman et al, 2019), and high perfectionism (Bußenius and Harendza, 2019), may predispose them to develop more depression and anxiety symptoms. Results from two cross-sectional studies demonstrated that Chinese adults with high level of Zhongyong thinking style had few depressive and anxiety symptoms (Zhan et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2016). Moreover, Yang et al (2016) conducted a longitudinal study and found that Chinese college student's depressive symptoms could be relieved through the training of Zhongyong thinking in group psychotherapy.…”

“…Results from two cross-sectional studies demonstrated that Chinese adults with high level of Zhongyong thinking style had few depressive and anxiety symptoms (Zhan et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2016). Moreover, Yang et al (2016) conducted a longitudinal study and found that Chinese college student's depressive symptoms could be relieved through the training of Zhongyong thinking in group psychotherapy. Therefore, in China, the Zhongyong thinking may be an important protective personality trait for an individual's emotional distress, and Zhongyong thinking is considered to be negatively related to Chinese individual's emotional distress.…”

“…Total scores range from 0 to 16 for both multi-thinking and harmoniousness, and from 0 to 20 for holism ranges, with higher scores demonstrating higher Zhongyong thinking. The scale has shown acceptable reliability and validity (Wu and Lin, 2005;Yang et al, 2016;He et al, 2017). For instance, in the study of Wu and Lin (2005), the internal consistence coefficient of multi-thinking, holism, harmoniousness, and the total Zhongyong thinking was 0.62, 0.73, 0.79, and 0.87, respectively.…”

Basic themes of Chinese indigenous psychology

“…Protože lidé uplatňující myšlení střední cesty mají vyšší sebehodnocení a životní spokojenost a skórují níže ve škálách úzkosti a deprese, zkusili Yang et al (2016), jestli jeho trénink zvýší účinnost klasické psychoterapie. Jednu skupinu studentů s depresivními potížemi nechali podstoupit standardní podpůrnou skupinovou terapii.…”