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Medical students entering the labor market were studied to find out whether the improvement of psychosocial well-being depends on characteristics of their careers. Psychosocial well-being was described on the basis of psychosomatic stress symptoms, psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire), and strain resistance resources (Sense of Coherence). The 3-year follow-up showed that among women the improvement of strain resistance resources was delayed in the group with several entries into work. Among men the findings suggested associations between stress symptoms and career characteristics. Most of the results, however, did not support the hypothesis about the division of the participants into those with a stable career and improving well-being and those with a fragmented career and low well-being.

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In this article, the authors focus on the intersection of the sense of coherence (SOC) and professional career in the light of qualitative data. They analyze the career descriptions written by young physicians in response to an open question in a survey questionnaire. In these narrative accounts, respondents who scored high on the SOC scale did not always orientate to work in a predictable way. Visiting narrative theoretization and feminist critique, the authors suggest a reflective survey style that seeks in the research process not so much an endeavor to reach a preexisting truth but, rather, a dialogue aimed at explaining the phenomenon at hand in a meaningful, agency-enabling way.