engleski

Sense of coherence and somatic symptoms

Background: Although Antonovsky's salutogenic concept of a sense of coherence (SOC) has proven to have observable strong effects on psychological and behavioral aspects of human functioning, its association with physical health is still ambiguous. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between SOC and its components with somatic symptoms. Methods: The research was online. A cross-sectional design was employed. In total 362 subjects of which 296 (81.8%) females and 66 (18.2%) males, ages 18 to 71 took part in this study. SOC and its components were measured with the Orientation to Life Questionnaire while the presence of somatic symptoms was measured with The Pennebaker inventory of limbic languidness. Data have been analyzed with hierarchical regression analysis in which the effects of the subject's sociodemographic background and neuroticism have been controlled. Findings: The results have shown that SOC significantly contributes to the presence of somatic symptoms (β=-.30, p<.0001). Component-level analysis has shown that significant effects on somatic symptoms have two SOC components, manageability (β=-.19, p<.05) and comprehensibility (β=-.14, p<.05). Discussion: The outcome of this study suggests that the way people relate to their lives affects their health. It seems whether people develop and cultivate resistance resources significantly affects the presence of somatic symptoms. Specifically, when people approach life by promoting predictability and structure (i.e. comprehensibility) as well as looking for resources being available to them (i.e. manageability), then it is expected they will stay healthy despite exposure to hardship.

personality, sense of coherence, somatic symptoms

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