Factors promoting sense of coherence among university students in urban areas of Japan: individual-level social capital, self-efficacy, and mental health

Abstract

Objective: Sense of coherence (SOC) is a concept that helps to explain the relation between personal intentionality as psychosocial factors and health-related behaviors. Thus, it is essential to enhance SOC when encouraging a healthy lifestyle. However, the factors that promote SOC have not been fully investigated among university students. The objective of this study was to clarify the general resistance resources (GRRs) that may promote the development of the SOC among university students. Therefore, we examined the relationship between SOC and social capital (SC), self-efficacy, and mental health. Methods: Participants included 443 students from nine academic departments at eight universities in the Kanto or Kinki metropolitan areas of Japan. Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire. Individual-level cognitive and structural SC, generalized self-efficacy, mental health inventory (from SF-36v2), and SOC were measured. Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling was conducted to verify the factor structure of the SOC-13 scale. Stepwise multiple regression analysis and two-way layout analysis of variance were performed with SOC as the dependent variable. Results: The factor structure of SOC indicated the optimal model fit in the second-order three-factor model of the 12 items. SOC was predicted by five variables: age, cognitive SC, structural SC, mental health, and self-efficacy. For students from urban areas, SOC was predicted by the interaction between cognitive and structural SC. Conclusion: SOC was significantly related to cognitive SC, structural SC, and self-efficacy as well as mental health in university students from urban areas. Furthermore, the combination of higher-level cognitive SC and higher-level structural SC exerted an inhibitory influence on SOC among students who previously and currently live in urban areas. Therefore, the findings indicated that both cognitive and structural SC as well as self-efficacy may act as GRRs that promote the development of SOC, and similarly, good mental health may promote a strong SOC.