COVID-19-related worries and mental health: the protective role of sense of coherence

Figures & data

Figure 1. Illustration of the mediating role of Sense of Coherence.

Note. c¹–c³ = direct effects of predictor on dependent variables, a¹ = direct effect of predictor on mediator, b¹–b³ = direct effects of mediator on dependent variables, a¹b¹, a¹b², a¹b³ mediating effects. All regression coefficients are standardized.

**p < .01, ***p < .001, ^‡95% CI.

Table 1. Intercorrelations, descriptive statistics and reliability of study variables.

Variables and Indices	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Age	—
2. Gender	−.03	—
3. Sense of Coherence	.20***	−.09	—
4. COVID-19-related worries	.02	.04	−.17**	—
5. Hopelessness	−.05	.02	−.57***	−.01	—
6. Depression	−.07	.16**	−.71***	.22***	.56***	—
7. Anxiety	−.11*	.17**	−.77***	.17**	.62***	.78***	—
Mean	22		50.1	52.3	4.7	27.5	48.1
SD	4.7		12.7	10.8	4.4	13.4	10.5
Skewness			−0.06	−0.35	1.24	0.02	0.25
Kurtosis			−0.09	−0.67	0.95	−0.95	−0.17
α			.81	.86	.88	.92	.90
ω			.82	.86	.88	.92	.91

Note. Coding for gender: 1 = men, 2 = women.

* p < .05.

** p < .01.

*** p < .001.

Table 2. The mediating role of sense of coherence in the relationship between COVID-19-related worries and indices of mental health.

Effect	B	SE	95% CI	β	P
Direct effects
SOC → hopelessness	−.209	.016	[−.241, −.177]	−.598	.000
SOC → depression	−.728	.042	[−.810, −.646]	−.691	.000
SOC → anxiety	−.630	.030	[−689, −.572]	−.758	.000
Indirect effects
COVID-19 worries → SOC → hopelessness	.040	.014	[.013, .067]	.096	—
COVID-19 worries →SOC → depression	.138	.046	[.047, .231]	.111	—
COVID-19 worries → SOC → anxiety	.119	.040	[.042, .199]	.121	—

Note. SOC: sense of coherence.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.