Sense of coherence and adolescence: an integrative review of the literature

An integrative review was conducted in order to investigate the role of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) in the health of adolescents in different contexts, as well as the factors that influence it. SOC is a construct used to evaluate the ability to cope and adapt to a situation of adversity. PubMed, Scielo, Lilacs and Medline biomedical databases were consulted with an interval of 10 years to locate original articles with abstracts in English, Portuguese and Spanish. After analysis 21, articles were selected and were sorted into thematic categories. It was established that adolescents with a low SOC are more prone to depression, anxiety and psychosomatic problems, whereas adolescents with a high SOC have a better quality of life. Several studies have shown that a strong SOC was associated with different health behaviors, such as improved oral hygiene, conscious use of medicines, not taking up smoking, lower consumption of alcohol and the more frequent practice of physical activities. Other studies highlight the protective role of SOC by reducing the impact caused by adverse situations, such as illness or even war. Thus, investigating the SOC is important as an individual resource for coping and will also assist in the planning of actions for the promotion of health.