Sense of coherence in adolescence—A review of research papers targeting Japanese university students

Abstract

This article reviews four topics of empirical research on sense of coherence (SOC) among Japanese university students. The findings for each topic were as follows: (1) mental health: SOC has a positive impact on mental health; (2) social support: social support from outside the family has a positive impact on SOC, but family support has a negative relationship with the comprehensibility component of SOC; (3) identity formation: SOC may promote identity formation, and the meaningfulness component of SOC is particularly relevant; and (4) job hunting and career development: SOC has a positive impact on job hunting and career development, but not all three components of SOC have a positive impact. The comprehensibility component of SOC reduces the sense of growth by job hunting.

Based on these findings, to develop SOC research of adolescents, future research should clarify how the three components of SOC influence each other, and confirm whether forming and strengthening SOC by conducting intervention research is possible, based on the knowledge that has been obtained to date.