Background
The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent observed gender differences in mental health are associated with the protective factors social support, sense of coherence and participation in regular physical activity and more generally, engagement in organized or unorganized activity with other people.
Methods
This study was based upon a cross-sectional regional health survey in Norway, conducted during the winter of 2015–2016, in three southern counties; Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Vestfold. The study focused on young adults, comparing three age groups; 18–24 years old (n = 624), 25–31 (n = 582), and 32–38 years old (n = 795).
Results
Sense of coherence was strongly associated with low mental distress in all age groups and for both genders, while the association between low social support and mental distress was significant for young women only. Regular physical activity was not positively associated with low mental distress when sense of coherence and social support were included in the analysis.
Conclusion
Social support appears to have a stronger role as a protective factor for mental distress among young women, compared to young men and older persons. This has implications for health promoting activities that target young women. Sense of coherence showed a strong association with low mental distress scores for all ages studied.
analysis. ResultsThe mean and standard deviation score of Physical component summary (PCS) and Mental component summary (MCS) domains of quality of life were 42.37AE19.91 and 47.55AE22.88, respectively. The most common coping strategies in patients were evasive and supportive copings. The results of multiple liner regression showed that emotive coping style to be a significant independent determinant of lower quality of life in the PCS domain ( = -0.41; p = 0.02), while anxiety was found to be a significant independent determinant of lower scores in both the MCS ( = -0.47; p = 0.006) and the PCS ( = -0.55; p = 0.001) domains. Conclusions Results showed that hemodialysis patients mostly use emotionoriented strategies when facing disease and treatments challenges. Emotive coping style and anxiety negatively affect quality of life in dialysis patients. Globally, more attention could be given to the potential role of effective coping strategies, to deal with the inevitable sources of stress and enhancing quality of life in care plan.
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