The significance of the sense of coherence for various coping resources in stress situations used by police officers in on-the-beat service

Background: Police officers meet many stressors as part of their occupation. The psychological resource "sense of coherence" (SOC) protects against ill-health, but its impact on coping resources for stress situations has not been studied in the population of police officers. Different approaches to investigate the significance of SOC for different outcomes have been identified in literature, leading to some difficulties in the interpretation and generalization of results. The aim was therefore to explore SOC and the coping resources, and to examine the significance of SOC for various coping resources for stress using different models in a sample of Swedish police officers providing on-the-beat service. Materials and Methods: One hundred and one police officers (age: mean = 33 years, SD = 8; 29 females) were included, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) and the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) were used. The dependent variable in each regression analysis was one of the coping resources: cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual/philosophical, physical, and a global resource. Global SOC-29 and/or its components (comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness) were investigated as independent variables. Results: All CRI and SOC-29 scores except for that of spiritual/philosophical resources were higher than those of reference groups. Manageability was the most important component of SOC for various coping resources in stress situations used by police officers. Conclusion: A deeper study of manageability will give useful information, because this component of SOC is particularly significant in the variation in resources used by police officers to cope with stress. Salutogenesis, the origin of well-being, should be more in focus of future research on workplaces with a high level of occupational stress

Stressors and resources mediate the association of socioeconomic position with health behaviours

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Measuring emotional and social wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations: an analysis of a Negative Life Events Scale

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians experience widespread socioeconomic disadvantage and health inequality. In an attempt to make Indigenous health research more culturally-appropriate, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have called for more attention to the concept of emotional and social wellbeing (ESWB). Although it has been widely recognised that ESWB is of crucial importance to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, there is little consensus on how to measure in Indigenous populations, hampering efforts to better understand and improve the psychosocial determinants of health. This paper explores the policy and political context to this situation, and suggests ways to move forward. The second part of the paper explores how scales can be evaluated in a health research setting, including assessments of endorsement, discrimination, internal and external reliability

Preconception Stress, Birth Weight, and Birth Weight Disparities Among US Women

Objectives. We examined the impact of preconception acute and chronic stressors on offspring birth weight and racial/ethnic birth weight disparities. Methods. We included birth weights for singleton live first (n = 3512) and second (n = 1901) births to White, Mexican-origin Latina, other-origin Latina, and Black women reported at wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (2007–2008; ages 24–32 years). We generated factor scores for preconception acute and chronic stressors from wave I (1994–1995; ages 11–19 years) or wave III (2001–2002; ages 18–26 years) for the same cohort of women. Results. Linear regression models indicated that chronic stressors, but not acute stressors, were inversely associated with birth weight for both first and second births (b = −192; 95% confidence interval = −270, −113; and b = −180; 95% confidence interval = −315, −45, respectively), and partially explained the disparities in birth weight between the minority racial/ethnic groups and Whites. Conclusions. Preconception chronic stressors contribute to restricted birth weight and to racial/ethnic birth weight disparities