忍是華人文化一個非常核心的傳統價值，雖在道德上具有崇高性，但日常生活的實踐上卻常讓個體感受壓抑與苦楚，並不利於心理適應。研究者認為文化在提供這套自抑價值的同時，也應提供從中化解的途徑，並進一步轉化成有利於適應的契機。本研究假設，倘若個體面對衝突情境時採取的是一味的忍耐，那麼這樣的忍耐模式將對個體具有不良的影響；反之，倘若個體的忍耐越能夠展現彈性，順應情境的不同而拿捏忍與不忍，那麼個體雖然一樣有忍耐的行為表現，但此彈性的忍耐模式將會導致良好的身心適應。本研究在考量關係親近性、公開性與頻率三個向度上自編涵蓋不同情境變異的忍耐行為傾向量表，並使用該量表檢驗上述假設。研究結果發現忍的一般傾向及變異傾向與個體適應具有符合假設的顯著關聯性，且作為彈性指標的變異程度對於忍所帶來的負面效果具有調節效果。作者們進一步推論華人以陰陽思維為基礎的「退一步，拉開距離」之後設認知策略或許是展現適應彈性之重要機制。

Although highly valued in Chinese culture, forbearance is ironically viewed as suppressive and unhealthy in much psychological research. To resolve this inconsistency, we hypothesized that indis- criminate forbearance results in negative adjustment, whereas flexibly managing expressiveness and forbearance promotes psychological adjustment. 68 Taiwanese undergraduate students participated in the current study. We measured variability in forbearance behaviors along the dimensions of relationship closeness, event frequency, and situation publicity. Results confirmed the hypothesis: the general tendency for forbearance predicts negative adjustment, whereas variation in the three culturally significant dimensions promotes psychological well-being. The authors further argued that yin-yang meta-cognition may contribute to Chinese people’s forbearance flexibility.