title: Sense of coherence and depressive symptoms among low-income Bedouin women in the Negev Israel.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Higher sense of coherence (SOC) has been associated with lower depression in Western societies; however, it is not clear whether this association manifests similarly in non-Western cultural contexts.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the associations between different levels of SOC and depressive symptoms (DS) among indigenous-minority Arab Bedouin women in Israel and explore possible explanatory variables for this association.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted face-to-face interviews with 464 women (aged 18-49 years). DS was measured based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We used the SOC-13 questionnaire and conducted path analysis using Structural Equation Modeling to examine the contribution of two levels of SOC (low/high) to predict DS beyond psychological resources and socioeconomic position.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score of SOC was 3.42, standard deviation (SD) = 1.15. While high SOC (mean = 4.38, SD = 0.66, range = 3.5-6.38) was positively and significantly associated with DS (r = 0.46), SOC was not associated (r = 0.02) with DS in the low SOC group (mean = 2.4, SD = 0.56, range = 1-3.42).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Relationships between high versus low SOC and DS among Bedouin women differ from those found in Western societies. This raises questions about the use of SOC as a universal tool in different cultural contexts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva , Israel .
authors.forename: Nihaya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Daoud
authors.forename: Orna
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Braun-Lewensohn
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Shifra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sagy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depressive symptoms; minority women; sense of coherence; specific cultural context; universal