The Long-Term Buffering Effect of Sense of Coherence on Psychopathological Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a Prospective Observational Study

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a multidimensional long-term stressor. Consequently, research demonstrated a negative impact of COVID-19 on mental health in parts of the general population. However, not all people are affected equally making the identification of resilience factors modulating the pandemic’s impact on mental health an important research agenda. One of these factors is sense of coherence (SOC), the key component of the salutogenesis framework. Objective: The current study aimed at investigating the long-term relationship between SOC and psychopathology, and the impact of COVID-19-related rumination as its moderator. Methods: The prospective observational study assessed psychopathology and SOC before the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany (February 2020) and at six critical time points during the pandemic (n = 1,479). Bivariate latent change score models and latent growth mixture modeling were used to analyze changes in psychopathology and SOC along with their interaction and to differentiate trajectories of COVID-19-related rumination. Results: A model allowing for unidirectional coupling from SOC to psychopathology demonstrated best fit. In the total sample, psychopathological symptoms increased significantly over time. Previous SOC predicted later changes in psychopathology, whereby a stronger SOC was associated with a decrease in symptoms over time, while a weaker SOC with an increase in symptoms. The same pattern of results was evident in the high-rumination (17.2%) but not in the low-rumination group (82.8%). Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that SOC is an important predictor and modulator of psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for those respondents that ruminate about the pandemic.

Adaptive responding to prolonged stress exposure: A binational study on the impact of flexibility on latent profiles of cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Nevertheless, a substantial percentage fell into the non-adaptive response profile, further characterised by high state anxiety and clinically relevant depressive symptoms. This finding illustrates the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of a vulnerable subpopulation (Robinson et al, 2021;Schäfer et al, 2021).…”

“…First and foremost, the current study was cross‐sectional, which limits us in drawing causal inferences. Future studies should measure flexibility domains and adaptive responding continuously, to model longitudinal associations (Schäfer et al, 2021 ). In addition, we did not use any probabilistic sampling methods, which limit the generalizability of our results to the general population.…”

Self-directed passive-aggressive behaviour as an essential component of depression: findings from two cross-sectional observational studies

“…Both questionnaires differ with respect to their item order only. The BSCL was found to be a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of psychopathological symptom burden in different populations [ 84 , 85 ]. In the current sample, the GSI showed excellent internal consistency ( α = 0.96).…”