Structural invariance and stability of sense of coherence: A longitudinal analysis of two groups with different employment experiences

This 5-year follow-up study investigated the structure and the factorial invariance of the 13-item sense of coherence (SOC) scale (Antonovsky, ) in two employment groups (unemployment/lay-off experiences vs. continuous full-time employment) and across two measurement times. In addition, the stability of SOC between these two employment groups was compared. The postal questionnaire data was collected twice, in 1992 and in 1997. The participants were Finnish technical designers (N=352) aged between 25 and 40 years in 1992. A total of 51% of the investigated participants had been employed full-time during the 5-year follow-up period and 49% had been unemployed and/or laid off for a total period of at least one month during the follow-up. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the SOC scale measured one general second-order SOC factor consisting of three, first-order factors of meaningfulness, comprehensibility, and manageability. The results also indicated that the scale was best used as an 11-item measure. The factorial invariance of the scale across time and across the two employment groups was supported by the data. Unexpectedly, the stability of SOC did not differ between the two employment groups. However, those participants who had experienced unemployment and/or been laid off during the follow-up period had a weaker SOC at both measurement times than those who had been employed throughout the follow-up.