Sense of Coherence Promotes Acceptance of Others Among University Students Studying Abroad: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Background Sense of Coherence (SOC) is a concept used to overcome difficult situations. This study aims to investigate whether SOC promotes acceptance of the self and others among university students by studying abroad, addressing the gap in understanding the psychological impacts of studying abroad. Methods This single-center, retrospective cohort study included university students who studied abroad between 2017 and 2019. Data on gender, age, destination, study abroad experience, the 13-item seven-point SOC Japanese version (SOC-13), Berger's scales, and the 60-item version of the General Health Questionnaire Japanese version (GHQ-60) were collected via self-administered questionnaires. A linear regression model estimated the β coefficient and 95% confidence interval (CI). We submitted Berger's Acceptance-of-Others after studying abroad as a dependent variable, SOC-13 before studying abroad as an independent variable, and age, gender, experience of studying abroad, destination, Berger's Acceptance-of-Others before studying abroad, Berger’s Self-acceptance score before studying abroad, and GHQ-60 before studying abroad as independent variables to adjust for confounders in the analysis model. Results Of 1039 students, 330 (31.8%) submitted pre-departure questionnaires; 168 (50.9%) were male, median age was 21.3 years, and 260 (80.0%) were undergraduates. Of the 156 (15.0%) who completed both pre- and post-study abroad questionnaires, the mean Berger's Acceptance-of-Others score significantly decreased by 5.2 points (p = 0.02), and the SOC-13 score decreased by 0.8 points (p < 0.001). Cronbach's alpha remained above 0.80 for all scales. Between the complete questionnaire group and an incomplete group, the complete questionnaire group had a higher SOC-13 score (P = 0.01) but did not have a higher Berger’s Acceptance-of-Others Scale score (P = 0.997). An increasing SOC-13 score was associated with an increasing Berger's scale Acceptance-of-Others score after studying abroad (β coef. 0.34; 95%CI, 0.04–0.65, P = 0.03). No significant interactions were found between the variables. Conclusions SOC promotes acceptance among university students studying abroad.