Sense of coherence as a moderator of the effects of stressful life events on health

Study objective: To test the hypothesis that Antonovsky's concept of sense of coherence (SOC) moderates ( that is, buffers) the health impacts of stressful life events in a population based sample. Design: Multiple linear and Poisson regression analyses of longitudinal data from a national survey of population health were used to examine the relations among SOC, the experience of recent stressful life events ( for example, family breakdown, financial crisis, physical abuse), and two outcomes, self reported health status (SRH) and self reported number of physician visits during the previous year. Setting: General population of Canada. Participants: Nationally representative sample of household residents aged 30 years of age or greater surveyed in 1998 and 2000 (n = 6505). Main results: After controlling for age, sex, and previous health status, a significant moderating effect (t = 2.24, p = 0.025) in the expected direction was found on respondents' SRH. The mean difference in SRH between those who did and did not experience a recent stressful life event was 0.24 (95% CI: 0.16, 0.32) in people with a below average SOC and 0.04 ( 95% CI: 20.04, 0.11) in people with a higher than average SOC score. The postulated moderating effect of SOC was not significant ( t = 1.1, p> 0.05) in predicting the number of visits to a physician. Conclusions: SOC seems to buffer the impact of recent stressful life events on SRH.