Everyday fluctuations in sense of coherence and its protective role in stress reactivity

Sense of coherence (SOC) has been recognized as an important resilience factor buffering the impact of negative life events on mental health. However, its protective role has not yet been examined in daily life. Furthermore, the amount of within-individual fluctuation in SOC remains unclear in everyday life in time windows of a few hours. In this study, we aimed to explore everyday changes in within-person SOC levels. Previous studies have shown that SOC is lowered by negative life events and stress (e.g. Volanen et al., 2007; Danioni et al., 2024). Expecting substantial within-person variance, we assessed whether less significant, everyday experiences could play a role in the expected fluctuations of sense of coherence, using a subjective stress appraisal measure. Furthermore, by operationalizing SOC as a state-like construct, we investigated its protective role through moderating stress reactivity in everyday life. Lastly, given the availability of adequate methodological tools, we will compare the explanatory power of the moderation effects of several other SOC operationalizations (e.g. trait, time lagged) that have previously been found to predict mental health outcomes.