摘要：The COVID-19 pandemic is a multidimensional long-term stressor. Consequently, research demonstrates a negative impact of COVID-19 on public mental health. Identifying factors that modulate this impact constitutes an important research agenda. To this end, we investigated the impact of sense of coherence (SOC) – as the key component of the salutogenesis framework – on mental health during the pandemic. First analyses of the current sample indicated that SOC buffers the short-term effect of the pandemic on public mental health. The current study aims at extending previous findings by examining the long-term buffering effect of SOC on public mental health. Method: The study assessed psychopathology and SOC before the outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany (February 2020) and at five critical time points during the pandemic in the German general population (n = 2,162). Bivariate latent change score modeling was used to analyze changes in psychopathology and SOC along with their interaction. Results: A model allowing for bidirectional coupling between SOC and psychopathology fitted well (RMSEA = .025). Psychopathology showed a small yet significant increase over time (z = 2.14, p = .032). Previous SOC predicted changes of psychopathology (z = –21.00, p < .001) and vice versa, whereby higher levels of SOC and psychopathology were associated with more stable SOC and psychopathology. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that a stronger SOC predicts changes in mental health during the pandemic and buffers the pandemic’s mental health consequences. Therefore, SOC promoting training may be a promising approach to strengthen individual resilience.
