Sense of coherence and school-related stress as predictors of subjective health complaints in early adolescence: interactive, indirect or direct relationships?

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2001-09, Vol.53 (5), p.603-614
• Main Authors: Torsheim, Torbjorn, Aaroe, Leif Edvard, Wold, Bente
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological - classification; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety - prevention & control; Anxiety - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Elementary School Students; Etiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health; Health Behavior; Health Problems; Health-complaints; High School Students; Humans; Illness; Junior High School Students; Medical sociology; Medicine; Mental stress; Models, Psychological; Moderator; Norway; Norway - epidemiology; Personality. Affectivity; Psychology, Adolescent - statistics & numerical data; Psychology, Child - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Resilience; School Environment; School stress; Schools; Sense of coherence; Sense-of-coherence Moderator Stress Adolescence Health-complaints Resilience; Social sciences; Stress; Stress, Psychological - complications; Stress, Psychological - etiology; Stress, Psychological - prevention & control; Teenagers; Young people
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00370-1

The role of sense of coherence (SOC) on the relationship between adolescent school-related stress and subjective health complaints was tested with structural equation modelling. As part of the crossnational WHO-survey ‘Health behaviour in school-aged children 1997/98’ Norwegian representative samples of 1592 grade 6, 1534 grade 8, and 1605 grade 10 students completed measures on SOC, school-related stress and subjective health complaints. A test of nested structural models revealed that both stress-preventive (Δ χ 2 814. 86, p