心理學文獻指出快樂與生活意義是構成美好生活的要素,可以為人們帶來幸福。然而在現實社會中,人們卻可能受到生存需求與消費文化的影響,而將金錢視為生活追求的價值與目標。本研究針對快樂、生活意義與金錢這三項要素,探討大學生的常識中認為什麼可以帶來好的生活,以及大學生在主觀上如何評價自己的生活,以解讀大學生的幸福感。參與本研究的357位大學生為國內北部某一所國立大學學生,本研究以高/低快樂、高/低生活意義、高/低收入等不同條件(2x2x2)設計八種虛構生涯狀況,使研究參與者隨機閱讀其中一種虛構生涯狀況,然後調查他們對此生涯的渴望度與至善性評價,以及使用生活滿意與情意量表調查他們的主觀幸福感。研究結果顯示:(1)「快樂×生活意義」的交互作用效果達到顯著水準,顯示在大學生的常識概念中,渴望與推崇結合快樂與有意義的生活。(2)高收入生活和低收入生活比較起來,大學生在道德上比較推崇過著低收入生活的人,但卻又比較渴望高收入的生活,顯示今日大學生可能陷於崇尚樸實生活的傳統價值與鼓勵消費意識抬頭的衝突之間。(3)大學生的主觀幸福感相對不高,仍有很大的提升空間,追求幸福與開創美好的生活可能「知易行難」。本研究最後建議提昇大學生的幸福感除了可增加大學生的快樂經驗與生活意義之外,預防大學生對美好生活的常識概念受到消費文化影響而迷失生活的價值與目標,則是另一個努力的方向。
What constitutes a good life? Two qualities have been espoused in psychological literature. The first is happiness. The second is meaning in life. However, in this modem society of consumption culture, the pursuit of money not only helps people meet their basic needs but also fulfills their material desires. This study examined the folk concepts of a good life and subjective well-being among college students. Participants (N=357) drawn from a national university in northern Taiwan rated the desirability and moral goodness of happiness, meaning in life, and income. The subjective well-being of college students was assessed with life satisfaction and affect measures. Results revealed significant interaction effects of happiness and meaning with regard to desirability as well as moral goodness, whereas money was relatively unimportant. These results suggest that the combination of happiness and meaning is essential in the folk concept of the good life. The finding that income was highly desired but lower in moral goodness may reflect the conflict between traditional social values and today's consumer culture, which contributes to college students' confusion in values and life goals. With regard to subjective well-being, our college students scored lower in life satisfaction and affective well-being as compared to the students in other nations. This result suggested that we should attempt to increase our college students' experience of happiness and meaning in life in order to enhance their subjective well-being. However, we should also help our college students keep their vision of the good life in their pursuit of happiness and meaning to prevent them from getting lost in this money-driven, consumer culture.