Affiliations: Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy,
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany | Department of Medicine Psychology and Medicine
Sociology, University of Leipzig, Germany
Note: [] Correspondence-address: Dr. rer. medic. Dipl. Psych. Sefik
Tagay, Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of
Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstr. 174, 45147 Essen, Germany. Tel.: +49 201 7227 506;
Fax: +49 201 7227 305; E-mail: sefik.tagay@uni-essen.de
Abstract: Introduction: We aimed to assess the impact of both religiosity and
sense of coherence on mental health and general life satisfaction. Methods: In this study, we recruited 389 individuals from different
settings (n=251 psychosomatic outpatients and n=138 healthy blood donors). The
participants completed measures of exposure to psychologically traumatic
events, posttraumatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, and sense of coherence.
Results: We did not find any significant associations between
religiosity and mental health variables and life satisfaction. In contrast,
significant highly correlations were seen between sense of coherence and
anxiety (r=−0.60), depression (r=−0.59), PTSD symptomatology
(r=−0.53), and life satisfaction (r=0.58). Discussion: Based on our results, sense of coherence but not
religiosity may be a protective factor for mental health and well-being.
Keywords: Sense of coherence, religiosity, life satisfaction, mental health, PTSD
