Sense of coherence and depressive symptoms among low-income Bedouin women in the Negev Israel

Background: Higher sense of coherence (SOC) has been associated with lower depression in Western societies; however, it is not clear whether this association manifests similarly in non-Western cultural contexts. Aims: To examine the associations between different levels of SOC and depressive symptoms (DS) among indigenous-minority Arab Bedouin women in Israel and explore possible explanatory variables for this association. Methods: We conducted face-to-face interviews with 464 women (aged 18-49 years). DS was measured based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We used the SOC-13 questionnaire and conducted path analysis using Structural Equation Modeling to examine the contribution of two levels of SOC (low/high) to predict DS beyond psychological resources and socioeconomic position. Results: The mean score of SOC was 3.42, standard deviation (SD)=1.15. While high SOC (mean=4.38, SD=0.66, range=3.5-6.38) was positively and significantly associated with DS (r=0.46), SOC was not associated (r=0.02) with DS in the low SOC group (mean=2.4, SD=0.56, range=1-3.42). Conclusions: Relationships between high versus low SOC and DS among Bedouin women differ from those found in Western societies. This raises questions about the use of SOC as a universal tool in different cultural contexts.