(Middle Tennessee State University, 2008)
Alexandre, Renata; Health & Human Performance
Aaron Antonovsky (1987) theorized that individuals who had been raised with support and encouragement and exposed to appropriate life experiences would develop greater coping skills, thereby perceiving their own health status positively. His theoretical construct is the "Sense of Coherence" (SOC). Antonovsky postulated that life changing events moderated the relationship between SOC and perception of health status. The primary purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of SOC on perception of health status in a sample of adults in the United States aged 40 and older. Other factors considered included age, gender, occupation, marital status, socioeconomic status, and presence of chronic disease. Instrumentation included the Orientation to Life Questionnaire to measure SOC, the Perceived Quality of Life Questionnaire to measure perceived quality of life, and a Demographic Questionnaire to measure demographics and life changing events.