Sense of coherence: big five correlates, spirituality, and incremental validity

Abstract

background Antonovsky (1987) developed the Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale to measure the "life orientation" that promotes an individual's ability to recognize life stressors and then effectively utilize coping resources to adjust and maintain health. Although theoretically appealing, little empirical work has been conducted to isolate the qualities of the scale that facilitate health. participants and procedureThe present study examined the factor structure of the SOC scale, as well as its incremental validity over measures of personality, spirituality, and psychological meaning in the prediction of psychosocial outcomes (e.g., hope death anxiety, life satisfaction, well-being, social support, world view). Participants consisted of 298 adults living in the United States; 98 men and 195 women (5 individuals did not disclose their gender) ages 18 to 72 (mean: 36.77 years). resultsPrincipal components analysis indicated that a single factor best represented the structure of the 13-item SOC scale, although this one factor explained only 31% of the total variance. The scale contained a diverse item content that was challenging to interpret personologically. The SOC scale added little explanatory variance over and above the selected covariates in the prediction of psychosocial outcomes.conclusions It appears that the SOC scale represents one aspect of a larger dimension that already has other valid indicators.

Mindful and Resilient? Incremental Validity of Sense of Coherence Over Mindfulness and Big Five Personality Factors for Quality of Life Outcomes

“…This is in line with research showing that having a feeling of purpose in life can help people overcome mental health issues (Kashdan and McKnight 2013). Piedmont and colleagues found that SOC's predictive validity for various outcomes including life satisfaction, wellbeing, and affect was attenuated after accounting for meaning in life (Piedmont et al 2014). The first item of the SOC-13 scale, which is also part of the meaningfulness factor, reads "Do you have the feeling that you don't really care about what goes on around you?".…”

Through the tunnel, to the light: Why sense of coherence covers and exceeds resilience, optimism, and self-compassion

“…Recent research has demonstrated that SOC possesses a large variance overlap with measures of meaning in life. Piedmont, Magyar-Russell, DiLella, and Matter (2014) found that once they controlled for meaning in life as well as self-actualization, SOC's predictive validity for various outcomes including life satisfaction, well-being, and affect was attenuated. Our own results mirror the importance of meaning as we compared different factor models of the SOC scale with regard to their criterion validity.…”

Sense of coherence and religion/spirituality: A systematic review and meta-analysis based on a methodical classification of instruments measuring religion/spirituality

“…Antonovsky attested religion an important role as a macrosocial generalized resistance resource [43], but he did not incorporate items dealing with transcendent aspects in his SOC questionnaire [44]. In accordance with this finding, Piedmont and colleagues [45] conclude that "SOC appears more oriented towards a secular-type of meaning-making" (p. 7). This interpretation is backed up by factor analyses showing that R/S and SOC items load on different factors [46].…”