title: Sense of coherence and emotional health in adolescents.
abstract: The present paper investigates possible gender and age differences on emotional states (state depression and state anxiety) and sense of coherence (SOC) as well as the association between SOC and emotional states. The cross-sectional sectional sample consists of 1209 adolescents 13-18 years from public elementary and secondary schools in Mid-Norway. The results showed that girls reported higher scores on state anxiety and state depression, whereas boys consistently scored higher on SOC in all age groups. SOC was inversely associated with both state depression and state anxiety. An interaction effect of gender by SOC was found on both state depression and state anxiety, where the association was stronger for girls than for boys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The associations found give support for the implications of salutogenic factors in relation to emotional health in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Health Promotion and Resources HiST/NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. unni.moksnes@svt.ntnu.no
authors.forename: Unni K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Moksnes
authors.forename: Geir A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Espnes
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lillefjell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D012737:Sex Factors