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The Role of Sense of Coherence During the COVID-19 Crisis: Does it Exercise a Moderating or a Mediating Effect on University Students' Wellbeing?
Article in SAGE open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Sense of coherence in Spanish-speaking countries during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.Medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Mediating role of stress in the relationship between life orientation and sense of coherence-a multicenter cross-sectional study among nursing students.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Anxiety in young university students: the mediating role of sense of coherence and self-esteem.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Coping in crisis: The role of sense of coherence, life satisfaction, and resilience in the relationship between depression, social support, fear of COVID-19, and perceived vulnerability to disease among nurses in South Africa.Journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Stressful Life Events and Sense of Coherence in College Students: Roles of Coping, Self-Efficacy, and Stress Mindset.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Stress to stability: Sense of coherence as a buffer against pandemic-related psychological distress.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2025Article
- Exploring the relationship between resilience, sense of coherence, and social support in a sample of nurses during the spread of COVID-19: a mediation analysis study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Fear of COVID-19, Perceived Stress, and PTSD: The Serial Mediating Role of Sense of Coherence.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2023Article
- Anxiety and coping during COVID-19. Investigation of anxiety management types in a German and Polish sample.Health psychology report · 2023Article
- Teachers as the agent of change for student mental health: the role of teacher care and teacher support in Chinese students' well-being.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis caused extensive mental health strains. Sense of coherence (SOC) is considered a protective factor for mental health in crisis that might also be decisive during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the mechanisms are not yet well understood. Using longitudinal survey data of 117 Austrian university students collected in 2020, we tested both moderating and mediating effects of SOC for the association of different stressors with later wellbeing. SOC did not buffer but mediated the effects of stressors on wellbeing. Students especially suffered from reduced feelings of manageability when confronted with financial strains, dissatisfying study situations, or disrupted plans. Supporting them in managing the difficulties of the crisis should therefore be considered a crucial part of psychosocial support.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.