Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Scale and 16PF Second-Order Factors

The SOC scale (Antonovsky, 1987) purports to measure a disposition which engenders and enhances health but some empirical findings suggest that it is seriously contaminated with negative affectivity. In a criterion validation of 100 undergraduates at a predominantly Black university, SOC was correlated with Krug and Johns’ (1986) 16PF second-order factor scores, as a broad spectrum of personality variables. The SOC-Anxiety correlation was -.52, in line with studies intimating negative affectivity; it could, however, also be interpreted in terms of its inverse, emotional stability. SOC correlated significantly with the other 4 second-order factors too. It thus measured a complex mixture of personality domains, rather than a single predominant trait.