BACKGROUND: Sense of coherence (SOC) is a personal resource that reflects the extent to which one perceives the world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. Decades of empirical research consistently show that SOC is an important protective resource for health and well-being. Despite the extensive use of the 13-item measure of SOC, there remains uncertainty regarding its factorial structure. Additionally, a valid and reliable Czech version of the scale is lacking. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the SOC-13 scale in a representative sample of Czech adults. METHODS: An online survey was completed by 498 Czech adults (18-86 years old) between November 2021 and December 2021. We used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factorial structure of the scale. Further, we examined the variations in SOC based on age and gender, and we tested the criterion validity of the scale using the short form of the Mental Health Continuum (MHC) scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) scale as mental health outcomes. RESULTS: SOC-13 showed an acceptable one- and three-factor fit only with specified residual covariance between items 2 and 3. We tested alternative short versions by systematically removing poorly performing items. The fit significantly improved for all shorter versions with SOC-9 having the best psychometric properties with a clear one-factorialstructure. We found that SOC increases with age and males score higher than females. SOC showed a moderately strong positive correlation with MHC, and a moderately strong negative correlation with GAD. These findings were similar for all tested versions supporting the criterion validity of the SOC scale. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that shortened versions of the SOC-13 scale have better psychometric properties than the original 13-item version in the Czech adult population. Particularly, SOC-9 emerges as a viable alternative, showing comparable reliability and validity as the 13-item version and a clear one-factorial structure in our sample.

Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Division of Public and Organizational Health Center of Salutogenesis Epidemiology Biostatistics and Prevention Institute University of Zurich Hirschengraben 84 Zurich 8001 Switzerland

See more in PubMed

Antonovsky A. The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion. Health Promot Int. 1996;11(1).

Antonovsky A. Unraveling the mystery of Health how people manage stress and stay well. Jossey-Bass; 1987.

Antonovsky A. Health stress and coping. Jossey-Bass; 1979.

Antonovsky A. The structure and Properties of the sense of coherence scale. Soc Sci Med. 1993;36(6):125–733. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(93)90033-Z. PubMed DOI

Eriksson M, Contu P. The sense of coherence: Measurement issues. The Handbook of Salutogenesis. Springer International Publishing; 2022. pp. 79–91. PubMed

Eriksson M. The sense of coherence: the Concept and its relationship to Health. The Handbook of Salutogenesis. Springer International Publishing; 2022. pp. 61–8.

Eriksson M, Lindström B. Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale and the relation with health: a systematic review. J Epidemiol Community Health (1978) 2006;60(5):376–81. doi: 10.1136/jech.2005.041616. PubMed DOI PMC

Eriksson M, Lindström B. Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale and its relation with quality of life: a systematic review. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007;61(11):938–44. doi: 10.1136/jech.2006.056028. PubMed DOI PMC

Mana A, Super S, Sardu C, Juvinya Canal D, Moran N, Sagy S. Individual, social and national coping resources and their relationships with mental health and anxiety: A comparative study in Israel, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands during the Coronavirus pandemic. Glob Health Promot [Internet]. 2021;28(2):17–26. PubMed PMC

Silverstein M, Heap J. Sense of coherence changes with aging over the second half of life. Adv Life Course Res. 2015;23:98–107. doi: 10.1016/j.alcr.2014.12.002. PubMed DOI

Rivera F, García-Moya I, Moreno C, Ramos P. Developmental contexts and sense of coherence in adolescence: a systematic review. J Health Psychol. 2013;18(6):800–12. doi: 10.1177/1359105312455077. PubMed DOI

Volanen SM, Lahelma E, Silventoinen K, Suominen S. Factors contributing to sense of coherence among men and women. Eur J Public Health [Internet]. 2004;14(3):322–30. PubMed

Guttman L. Measurement as structural theory. Psychometrika. 1971;3(4):329–47. doi: 10.1007/BF02291362. DOI

Guttman R, Greenbaum CW. Facet theory: its development and current status. Eur Psychol. 1998;3(1):13–36. doi: 10.1027//1016-9040.3.1.13. DOI

Shye S. Theory Construction and Data Analysis in the behavioral sciences. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1978.

Portoghese I, Sardu C, Bauer G, Galletta M, Castaldi S, Nichetti E, Petrocelli L, Tassini M, Tidone E, Mereu A, Contu P. A network perspective to the measurement of sense of coherence (SOC): an exploratory graph analysis approach. Current Psychology. 2024;12:1-3.

Bachem R, Maercker A. Development and psychometric evaluation of a revised sense of coherence scale. Eur J Psychol Assess. 2016;34(3):206–15. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000323. DOI

Drageset J, Haugan G. Psychometric properties of the orientation to Life Questionnaire in nursing home residents. Scand J Caring Sci. 2016;30(3):623–30. doi: 10.1111/scs.12271. PubMed DOI

Kanhai J, Harrison VE, Suominen AL, Knuuttila M, Uutela A, Bernabé E. Sense of coherence and incidence of periodontal disease in adults. J Clin Periodontol. 2014;41(8):760–5. doi: 10.1111/jcpe.12272. PubMed DOI

Naaldenberg J, Tobi H, van den Esker F, Vaandrager L. Psychometric properties of the OLQ-13 scale to measure sense of coherence in a community-dwelling older population. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2011;9. PubMed PMC

Luyckx K, Goossens E, Apers S, Rassart J, Klimstra T, Dezutter J et al. The 13-item sense of coherence scale in Dutch-speaking adolescents and young adults: structural validity, age trends, and chronic disease. Psychol Belg. 2012;52(4):351–68.

Lerdal A, Opheim R, Gay CL, Moum B, Fagermoen MS, Kottorp A. Psychometric limitations of the 13-item sense of coherence scale assessed by Rasch analysis. BMC Psychol. 2017;5(1). PubMed PMC

Klepp OM, Mastekaasa A, Sørensen T, Sandanger I, Kleiner R. Structure analysis of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence from an epidemiological mental health survey with a brief nine-item sense of coherence scale. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2007;16(1):11–22. doi: 10.1002/mpr.197. PubMed DOI PMC

Křivohlavý J. Sense of coherence: methods and first results. II. Sense of coherence and cancer. Czechoslovak Psychol. 1990;34:511–7.

Křivohlavý J. Nezdolnost v pojetí SOC. Czechoslovak Psychol. 1990;34(6).

Křivohlavý J. Salutogenesis and behavioral medicine. Cas Lek Cesk. 1990;126(36):1121–4. PubMed

Kebza V, Šolcová I. Hlavní Koncepce psychické odolnosti. Czechoslovak Psychol. 2008;52(1):1–19.

Šolcová I, Blatný M, Kebza V, Jelínek M. Relation of toddler temperament and perceived parenting styles to adult resilience. Czechoslovak Psychol. 2016;60(1):61–70.

Šolcová I, Kebza V, Kodl M, Kernová V. Self-reported health status predicting resilience and burnout in longitudinal study. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2017;25(3):222–7. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a4840. PubMed DOI

Šolcová I, Kebza V. Subjective health: current state of knowledge and results of two Czech studies. Czechoslovak Psychol. 2006;501:1–15.

Šípová I, Máčel M, Zubková A, Tušl M. Association between coping resources and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in the Czech Republic. Int J Environ Health Res. 2022;1–9. PubMed

Keyes CLM. The Mental Health Continuum: from languishing to flourishing in life. J Health Soc Behav. 2002;43(2):207–22. doi: 10.2307/3090197. PubMed DOI

Löwe B, Decker O, Müller S, Brähler E, Schellberg D, Herzog W, et al. Validation and standardization of the generalized anxiety disorder screener (GAD-7) in the General Population. Med Care. 2008;46(3):266–74. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e318160d093. PubMed DOI

R Core Team . R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2022.

Rosseel Y. Lavaan: an R Package for Structural equation modeling. J Stat Softw. 2012;48(2):1–36. doi: 10.18637/jss.v048.i02. DOI

Bentler PM, Bonett DG. Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychol Bull. 1980;88(3):588–606. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.588. DOI

Beauducel A, Wittmann WW. Simulation study on fit indexes in CFA based on data with slightly distorted simple structure. Struct Equ Model. 2005;12(1):41–75. doi: 10.1207/s15328007sem1201_3. DOI

Raftery AE. Bayesian model selection in Social Research. Sociol Methodol. 1995;25:111–63. doi: 10.2307/271063. DOI

Farooq R. Heywood cases: possible causes and solutions. Int J Data Anal Techniques Strategies. 2022;14(1):79. doi: 10.1504/IJDATS.2022.121506. DOI

Eriksson M, Lindström B. Validity of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale: a systematic review. J Epidemiol Community Health (1978) 2005;59(6):460–6. doi: 10.1136/jech.2003.018085. PubMed DOI PMC

Stern B, Socan G, Rener-Sitar K, Kukec A, Zaletel-Kragelj L. Validation of the Slovenian version of short sense of coherence questionnaire (SOC-13) in multiple sclerosis patients. Zdr Varst. 2019;58(1):31–9. PubMed PMC

Bernabé E, Tsakos G, Watt RG, Suominen-Taipale AL, Uutela A, Vahtera J, et al. Structure of the sense of coherence scale in a nationally representative sample: the Finnish Health 2000 survey. Qual Life Res. 2009;18(5):629–36. doi: 10.1007/s11136-009-9469-z. PubMed DOI

Sardu C, Mereu A, Sotgiu A, Andrissi L, Jacobson MK, Contu P. Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale: cultural validation of soc questionnaire and socio-demographic patterns in an Italian Population. Clin Pract Epidemiol Mental Health [Internet] 2012;8:1–6. doi: 10.2174/1745017901208010001. PubMed DOI PMC

Chyung SY, Barkin JR, Shamsy JA. Evidence-based Survey Design: the Use of negatively worded items in surveys. Perform Improv. 2018;57(3):16–25. doi: 10.1002/pfi.21749. DOI

Suárez-Alvarez J, Pedrosa I, Lozano LM, García-Cueto E, Cuesta M, Muñiz J. Using reversed items in likert scales: a questionable practice. Psicothema. 2018;30(2):149–58. PubMed

van Sonderen E, Sanderman R, Coyne JC. Ineffectiveness of reverse wording of questionnaire items: let’s learn from cows in the rain. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(7). PubMed PMC

Podsakoff PM, MacKenzie SB, Lee JY, Podsakoff NP. Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. J Appl Psychol. 2003;88(5):879–903. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879. PubMed DOI

The Effect of Reminiscence Therapy on the Assessment of Depression, Anxiety and Self-Esteem in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: An Intervention Study