Sense of coherence--a concept influencing health and quality of life in a Swedish psychiatric at-risk group.
We explored the predictive value of individual dispositions hypothesized to be related to coping with stress and to health. The independent variables were Antonovsky's sense of coherence (SOC) and its components--comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Other independent variables included intelligence, validity (energy level), solidity (flexibility level) and stability (sociability level), locus of control, mastery and ways of coping. The outcome (dependent) variables were measured both by self-rating questionnaires (the Symptom Check List and Quality of Life), by the Health Sickness Rating Scale, and by independent raters using information obtained by in-depth interviews. A group of 148 middle-aged subjects, considered to be at risk for psychiatric disturbances, were drawn from a longitudinal population study in Sweden, the Lundby Study, and investigated in 1988/89. The results indicate that all the independent variables contributed to the variance of the health measures. Stepwise regression indicated that the SOC was by far the best correlate of health and mental well-being.
Cederblad
M
M
Department of Child and Youth Psychiatry, Lund University, Sweden.
Hansson
K
K
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden