Order out of chaos: Sense of coherence and the mediating role of coping resources in explaining mental health during COVID-19 in 7 countries.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the universal chaos created by it, this study explores the role of sense of coherence (Soc, Antonovsky, 1979) and how it enables coping with a stressful situation and staying well. SOC is a generalized orientation which allows one to perceive the world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. In an attempt to understand 'how does the SOC work' we employed the salutogenic assumption that a strong SOC allows one to reach out in any given situation and find those resources appropriate to the specific stressor. Thus, we hypothesized that the positive impact of SOC on mental health outcomes would be mediated through coping resources that are particularly salient in times of crisis. One resource is related to the micro level (perceived family support) and the other concerns the macro level (trust in leaders and social-political institutions). Data collection was conducted in different countries during May-June 2020 via online platforms. The data included 7 samples of adult participants (age 18-90) from Israel (n â€‹= â€‹669), Italy (n â€‹= â€‹899), Spain (n â€‹= â€‹476), Germany (n â€‹= â€‹708), Austria (n â€‹= â€‹1026), Switzerland (n â€‹= â€‹147), and the U.S. (n â€‹= â€‹506). The questionnaires included standard tools (MHC-SF, SOC-13) as well as questionnaires of perceived family support and trust that were adapted to the pandemic context. As expected, SOC was associated with mental health in all the samples. Perceived family support and trust in leaders and social-political institutions mediated the relationships between SOC and mental health, controlling for age, gender, and level of financial risk. It appears that SOC has a universal meaning, not limited by cultural and situational characteristics. The discussion focuses on the theoretical, social, and political applications of the salutogenic model - and its core concept of SOC - in the context of coping with a global pandemic across different cultural contexts and countries.

Future directions for the concept of salutogenesis: a position article.

Aaron Antonovsky advanced the concept of salutogenesis almost four decades ago (Antonovsky, Health, Stress and Coping. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1979; Unravelling the Mystery of Health. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1987). Salutogenesis posits that life experiences shape the sense of coherence (SOC) that helps to mobilize resources to cope with stressors and manage tension successfully (determining one's movement on the health Ease/Dis-ease continuum). Antonovsky considered the three-dimensional SOC (i.e. comprehensibility, manageability, meaningfulness) as the key answer to his question about the origin of health. The field of health promotion has adopted the concept of salutogenesis as reflected in the international Handbook of Salutogenesis (Mittelmark et al., The Handbook of Salutogenesis. Springer, New York, 2016). However, health promotion mostly builds on the more vague, general salutogenic orientation that implies the need to foster resources and capacities to promote health and wellbeing. To strengthen the knowledge base of salutogenesis, the Global Working Group on Salutogenesis (GWG-Sal) of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education produced the Handbook of Salutogenesis. During the creation of the handbook and the regular meetings of the GWG-Sal, the working group identified four key conceptual issues to be advanced: (i) the overall salutogenic model of health; (ii) the SOC concept; (iii) the design of salutogenic interventions and change processes in complex systems; (iv) the application of salutogenesis beyond health sector. For each of these areas, we first highlight Antonovsky's original contribution and then present suggestions for future development. These ideas will help guide GWG-Sal's work to strengthen salutogenesis as a theory base for health promotion.

Coping resources of maltreated children in the family: a salutogenic approach.

OBJECTIVE: Most research in child maltreatment within family focuses mainly on the pathological damage caused to the battered child. This study, based on a salutogenic approach, focuses on the resources that may help maltreated children to cope with their state and stay well. METHOD: Resilience was measured by two variables: perceived competence and psychological distress. The moderating or buffering variables that may contribute to better coping were: sense of family coherence, psychological sense of school membership, and social support. Two hundred and twenty-six 8th graders answered an anonymous self-report inventory. Based on the students' answers, they were divided into two groups: those who reported that they had been maltreated (MC) (n = 81) and those who did not (NMC) (n = 145). RESULTS: The study revealed a significantly high percentage of adolescents (35.6%) who reported having been maltreated within their families. A significant difference was found between the MC and the NMC in levels of perceived competence (higher for the NMC) and psychological distress (higher for the MC group). The moderating variables were found to have a differential effect on the dependent variables within the two groups. Sense of family coherence was found to be the main contributor to variance explanation of perceived competence among the MC, while sense of school membership had the main effect among NMC. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support a salutogenic approach in studying maltreated children. Implications on the possible detection of maltreated children in the community and on their coping resources that may contribute to resilience are discussed.

The development of the sense of coherence: a retrospective study of early life experiences in the family.

This is an exploratory study of the relationship between three sociodemographic variables, four types of life experiences, and the development of the Sense of Coherence (SOC). The study was carried out using semi-structured life-history interviews of eighty-nine retirees whose SOC scores had been obtained in a previous study. The central research question was what kind of experiences within the family context during childhood are related to the development of the SOC. The interviews were scored on ten pre-coded variables derived from four types of life experiences which were hypothesized to shape the SOC: consistency, load balance, participation in shaping outcome, and emotional closeness. In addition, three sociodemographic variables, which were hypothesized to influence the family context by setting limits and offering opportunity for the kinds of interactions which might occur within the family, were measured: family education level, socioeconomic status, and gender. Results of the statistical analysis indicate that the most relevant childhood experience related to the adult SOC was participation in shaping outcomes. Both family education level and gender were related to SOC, directly and indirectly. Findings are discussed in terms of the salutogenic model and the historical and social context in which the interviewees grew up.

Structural sources of the sense of coherence. Two life stories of Holocaust survivors in Israel.

We describe a preliminary exploration of three types of life experiences hypothesized to be relevant to the development of the Sense of Coherence (SOC), the core concept in Antonovsky's salutogenic model. Salutogenesis, in contrast with pathogenesis, is concerned with factors promoting health, rather than those causing disease. The SOC deals with how individuals respond to stressors. It is defined as a global orientation expressing the extent to which one has a feeling of confidence that things will work out as well as can be expected. Three types of life experiences were hypothesized to shape the development of the SOC: consistency, emotional load balance, and sense of belonging. They were selected for a qualitative content analysis. One hundred retirees, whose SOC scores had been obtained in a previous study, were interviewed using a semistructured life-story interview. This paper deals with the analysis of the narratives of two women in the sample whose life histories were similar in their historical and social contexts. However, their present orientation toward life, as expressed both in their stories and their SOC scores, were different. The relationships between their life experiences and their perceptions of their lives at present are discussed.

Marital violence: comparing women in violent and nonviolent unions.

PIP: This study examined marital violence among Israeli Jews. Data were obtained from a sample of 161 women who gave birth at Soroka Medical Center in the Negev region of Israel in 1992. The literature reveals that Jewish families tolerate domestic violence if an "evil" woman refuses housework or shows no respect for her husband. It is believed that Jews do not beat their wives. This study explored the degree to which women accept as legitimate the gender division of authority and use of power. It is posited that women in violent marriages (VMs) tend to accept the traditional division of labor and authority and hold more tolerant attitudes toward VMs. It is posited that VMs may be less egalitarian and democratic. VMs may be maintained if women are emotionally dependent on husbands, have a lower self-image, and perceive their husbands more positively. The questionnaire asked about social background and resources, attitudes toward marital power and violence, power relations, self-image, conflict solving, and women's emotional dependency. 18% had 1 domestic violent episode. 8 factors explained 56% of the difference between VMs and non-VMs and 90% of the cases. Husbands tried to avoid conflict. Wives fought for their interests and used external resources when conflict occurred. Husbands were reluctant to share power. There were 2 distinct patterns: the battered women syndrome and the struggle for power. Marital conflict was associated, as in the American literature, with economic hardship, lack of collectiveness in the dyad, and the form of conflict solving tactics used by both spouses. Women in VMs had different attitudes toward husband control and were emotionally dependent on their husbands.^ieng

The reality worlds of retirees: an Israeli case-control study.

The conceptual point of departure of this study was Cantril's "patterns of human concerns" as reflecting reality worlds. Subjects were 805 "on-time" retirees and 260 kibbutz members (who do not retire) interviewed at three points in time. We asked two questions: Can modal themes in this map of concerns be identified as characteristic of an Israeli cohort of the young elderly? Do gender, class, and retiree/kibbutz status lead to meaningful differences in mapping the world? A quite common modal pattern of concerns was found in the retiree sample, with a central focus on family and interpersonal relations. Commonalities between the different sociocultural groups seemed more striking than the differences.

Confronting developmental tasks in the retirement transition.

This paper considers retirement as a widespread developmental transition. It seeks to exploit and advance Erikson's life cycle model, taken as a heuristic device, in three ways: noting major transition challenges between generativity and integrity; distinguishing between tasks and outcomes in such transitions; and viewing such tasks as derived from historical, biological, psychological, and sociocultural realities. Analysis of such realities in the lives of Israeli retirees pointed to four care tasks: active involvement, reevaluation of life satisfaction, reevaluation of a world view, and a sense of health maintenance.

Attitudes toward retirement in an Israeli cohort.

The three-fold purpose of this study was 1) to clarify the concept of "attitudes toward retirement" and its multidimensional structure; 2) to test hypotheses about the relationship between attitudes and gender and SES; and 3) to analyze the relationship between attitudes and the Sense of Coherence concept in terms of the functional consequences of different attitudes. A sample of 805 (432 men and 373 women) Israeli "on-time" people on the verge of retirement were interviewed. Results point to the importance of distinguishing between perceptions of gains and losses in the retirement developmental transition; identification of blue-collar workers, with ambivalent attitudes, as a high-risk group; and the importance of a strong Sense of Coherence in adopting attitudes presumably functional in coping with the developmental transition.

Adolescents' reactions to the evacuation of the Sinai settlements: a longitudinal study.

This study investigated psychological reactions of adolescents to a severe stress situation--the evacuation of the Sinai settlements. The research focused on emotional reactions of anxiety and anger to this stress situation. Two central problems were investigated: The intensity of the emotional responses of anxiety and anger of the adolescents to the stress situation, before and after the evacuation, and the impact of three intervening variables on these emotional reactions--cognitive perception of the political situation, family functioning, and personality characteristics. Data for this study were collected in a regional high school in Israel from 418 pupils in 9th through 12th grades. Seventy-eight of the pupils lived in the Yamit area. Measurements were obtained at three points in time: 6 weeks and 1 week before the evacuation and 2 months after it. The results supported the predicted trend that adolescents in the Yamit group before the evacuation would score higher on state anxiety and state anger than would those in the comparison group. Two months after the evacuation there was a significant drop in those scores. The trait measures remained stable in both groups and no significant differences were found between the two groups on these scores. Concerning the impact of the three intervening variables on the intensity of the state emotional responses, the results did not support any of the hypotheses.