Fuller T D, Edwards J N, Vorakitphokatorn S, Sermsri S
Department of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg 24061, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 1996 Jan;42(2):265-80. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00089-5.
This paper examines the effect of one form of chronic stress--household crowding--on psychological well-being, as measured by multiple inverse indicators of psychological well-being. We rely on data from a large (n = 2017) random sample of households in Bangkok, Thailand, a context that has a higher level and broader range of crowding than typically found in the United States. Objective household crowding is found to be detrimental to psychological well-being, controlling for a number of background characteristics. The effect of objective crowding is mediated by subjective crowding, which has strong, consistent and direct detrimental effects on well-being. There is no evidence of a gender effect. Extended family households are not uncommon in Bangkok, but the effects of objective and subjective crowding are similar in both two- and three-generation households, as well as in one- and multiple-couple households. The argument that subjective crowding is an effect, rather than a cause, of psychological well-being is examined and rejected. The findings suggest that crowding, as a chronic source of stress, constitutes a major threat to psychological well-being. Although the empirical analyses are based on data from one city, we frame the issue of household crowding in a historical and theoretical context in order to suggest in which cultural settings household crowding is most likely to have detrimental effects on psychological well-being.
本文通过心理健康的多个反向指标，考察了一种慢性应激形式——家庭拥挤——对心理健康的影响。我们使用的数据来自泰国曼谷的一个大型（n = 2017）家庭随机样本，与美国相比，该地区的家庭拥挤程度更高、范围更广。在控制了一些背景特征后，发现客观的家庭拥挤对心理健康有害。客观拥挤的影响通过主观拥挤来介导，主观拥挤对幸福感有强烈、一致且直接的有害影响。没有证据表明存在性别效应。在曼谷，大家庭并不罕见，但客观和主观拥挤在两代和三代家庭以及一代和多对夫妇家庭中的影响相似。本文对主观拥挤是心理健康的结果而非原因这一观点进行了检验并予以否定。研究结果表明，拥挤作为一种慢性应激源，对心理健康构成了重大威胁。尽管实证分析基于一个城市的数据，但我们将家庭拥挤问题置于历史和理论背景中，以表明在哪些文化背景下家庭拥挤最有可能对心理健康产生有害影响。
