The contribution of the big five personality factors to sense of coherence

How much of the variation among individuals with regard to sense of coherence (SOC) can be explained by some of the important and central factors in people's lives, above what can be explained by the big five personality factors? Six hundred and ninety-eight randomly selected persons (419 women and 279 men, aged 30-65 years) responded to a questionnaire that measured SOC, the big five personality factors, demographic, socio-economic, private-life, and work-life variables. The five personality factors explained 38% (for women) and 40% (for men) of the variation in SOC and the demographic, socio-economic, private-life, and work-life variables explained an additional 17% (for women) and 12% (for men) of the variation in SOC. Thus, the five personality factors explain a substantial part of the variation in SOC but SOC captures additional aspects that cannot be captured by the five fundamental personality factors. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.