Sense of coherence and pain experience in older age

We investigate to what extent pain in older individuals is predicted by on the one hand chronic morbidity as a resistance deficit, and on the other hand psychological resistance resources and the sense of coherence. For the first time, we tested the salutogenic hypothesis that the sense of coherence mediates the relationship between resources/deficits and pain.

In our questionnaire study, we assessed selected psychological resistance resources (self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, optimism, and social support), the number of self-reported medical diagnoses of chronic illness, the sense of coherence, and pain (SF-36 Bodily Pain subscale) in a sample of 387 older persons (at the mean age of 73.8 years).

Using hierarchical regression, we found that morbidity and sense of coherence were the only significant predictors of pain, with morbidity showing the strongest effect. Using path analysis, the sense of coherence was a mediator of the relationship between resistance resources/deficits and pain.

With respect to our analytical model, in which pain experience was the criterion variable, morbidity and the sense of coherence are important predictors of pain. Moreover, we found evidence for the salutogenic idea that the sense of coherence represents a mediator variable as it pools resistance/deficits influences on pain. We recommend a prospective design to explore these assumed causal chains in future research.