Theoretical Issues in the Further Development of the Sense of Coherence Construct

In this chapter, the author discusses theoretical issues, including the dimensionality of the sense of coherence (SOC) scale, questioning whether the three components of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness can be measured separately or not; a plea for longitudinal data to study SOC as the causal variable; whether SOC can be strengthened and thus function as an outcome variable or not; the concept of domain-specific SOC; the concept of a boundary in the measurement of SOC; the dichotomization and trichotomization of SOC to investigate more thoroughly if a weak SOC or a strong SOC is crucial for health and well-being; the importance of relating SOC to salutogenic outcome measures such as perceived wellness or a healthy lifestyle; and additional issues such as the collective SOC, measuring other central constructs in the salutogenic model and the importance of literature reviews and meta-studies. Excellent recommendations are given for ways forward.