Revised Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-R)

Introduction

The Revised Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-R) is a 13-item self-report measure designed to capture a person’s general tendency to perceive life experiences as connected and interpretable, while being able to hold both positive and negative aspects of life in balance.

Bachem and Maerker (2016) designed this as a further development and alternative to Antonovsky’s original SOC measure, with the explicit goal of reducing overlap with general distress/negative affect and improving the clarity of the factor structure.

Sense of Coherence is a person’s tendency to see life as understandable and connected, and to deal with it in a balanced, workable way.

Psychometrically, the authors report a stable three-factor structure. Meaning of total score and subscales:

Subscale	Meaning
Manageability	confidence that you can handle difficult situations and find ways to cope.
Reflection	a habit of thinking things through and keeping an overview to make sense of what’s happening.
Balance	an ability to accept that life includes both good and bad, without being thrown off by either.

Subscale

Meaning

Manageability

confidence that you can handle difficult situations and find ways to cope.

Reflection

a habit of thinking things through and keeping an overview to make sense of what’s happening.

Balance

an ability to accept that life includes both good and bad, without being thrown off by either.

The three-factor structure is supported across two German-speaking samples, with acceptable internal consistency for the total score and evidence for discriminant validity relative to related constructs (e.g., neuroticism, optimism, self-efficacy). This makes SOC-R a useful short scale for research or applied settings where you want a concise resilience-related indicator that is not simply a proxy for depression/anxiety.

In their Table 3 (Bachem & Marker, 2016), they list average population scores for two sample studies of people. In the sample of people who dealed with bereavement, they found lower scores on the scales (these are a few scores, see the original table for all the scores and SD, etc).

Score on	Sample 1 (Bereaved, N=334)	Sample 2 (Control group, N=157)
SOC-R (total)	47.75	50.71
Manageability	17.28	18.67
Reflection	15.49	16.47
Balance	14.99	15.58

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Legal stuff

This scale can be used for clinical and research purposes while properly citing the authors. In the paper the authors state: "We conclude with the hope that for clinical and research purposes in the areas of traumatic stress or lifespan developmental studies the new scale will fill an existing gap.". Bachem and Maercker (2016).

Technically

This is a straightforward question with 5 point scale items and one reverse scored item (number 6). Each item is score on a scale from 1 to 5. They reported summed scores of items. The total score (SOC-R) is the sum of the 13 item scores, thus ranges from 13 to 65.

The survey code for PsyToolkit

Copy and paste this code to your PsyToolkit account if you want to use the scale in your own online research project

scale: trueSoc
- not at all true
- slightly true
- somewhat true
- quite true
- very true

l: SOCR
t: scale trueSoc
o: buildup
q: Listed below are several statements about life.
Please read each statement carefully and indicate how much it is typical of you.
- {1} In spite of everything, I can learn from bad experiences.
- {2} Evil also has its place in the world.
- {3} I know that I could suddenly experience something really horrible or shocking.
- {4} I am convinced that a lot of negative feelings (e.g. rage) also have positive sides.
- {5} In my thoughts and actions, I take into account that things often have two sides: good and bad ones.
- {6,reverse} Difficult situations overstrain me.
- {7} One can always find a way to cope with painful things in life.
- {8} Due to my experiences in life, I can handle new situations well
- {9} I can accept things that cannot be changed.
- {10} It is important for me to maintain a good overview of situations.
- {11} Normally I can consider a situation from various perspectives.
- {12} I always try to see things in context.
- {13} I put effort into considering different perspectives when I am exposed to problematic situations

l: socr_overall
t: set
- sum $SOCR*

l: socr_manageability
t: set
- sum $SOCR.1 $SOCR.6 $SOCR.7 $SOCR.8 $SOCR.9

l: socr_reflection
t: set
- sum $SOCR.10 $SOCR.11 $SOCR.12 $SOCR.13

l: socr_balance
t: set
- sum $SOCR.2 $SOCR.3 $SOCR.4 $SOCR.5

l: feedbackSOCR
t: info
q: Your score on the SOC-13 item is as follows:
<ul>
<li>Overall score: {$socr_overall} (on scale from 13 to 65 with midpoint of 26)
<li>Manageability: {$socr_manageability} (on scale from 5 to 25 with midpoint of 10)
<li>Reflection: {$socr_reflection} (on scale from 4 to 20 with midpoint of 8)
<li>Balance: {$socr_balance} (on scale from 4 to 20 with midpoint of 8)
</ul>

References

Bachem, R., & Maercker, A. (2016). Development and psychometric evaluation of a revised Sense of Coherence Scale. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 34(3), 206-215. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000323
Antonovsky, A. (1993). The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale. Social Science & Medicine, 36, 725–733. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(93)90033-Z