The Role of Family Background, School Success, and Career Orientation in the Development of Sense of Coherence

Abstract

Abstract. This study investigates family background (child-centered parenting, parental socioeconomic status), school success in adolescence, and career orientation (education, stability of career line) in adulthood as antecedents of adult sense of coherence (SOC; Antonovsky, 1987a ), which has been posited to be a disposition crucial to understanding individual differences in successful coping with stress. Participants (104 men and 98 women) were drawn from the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS), which was started when the participants were 8- or 9-year-old children (in 1968). Data gathered at ages 14, 27, 36, and 42 were used in this study. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that child-centered parenting in adolescence and a stable career line in adulthood were directly associated with a high SOC at age 42. In addition, child-centered parenting, high parental socioeconomic status, and school success at age 14 were indirectly associated with adult SOC via education and stability of career line. The SEM multigroup comparison showed that the obtained associations were similar for men and women.