The Relationship between Sense of Coherence and Psychological Well-Being Among Latino Immigrant Farm Workers, “Jornaleros de Trabajo”

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Clemencia Figueroa Moore, PsyD, Christina Cortez, Psy.D., is a 2014 graduate of the PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, Santa Barbara.

Dissertation Committee

Steven Kadin, Ph.D. Chairperson

Juliet Rohde-Brown, Ph.D. Committee Member

Ray Hwang, Psy.D, Committee Member

Keywords

Sense of Coherence, Psychological General Well-being, immigration, cultural stress, migrant workers, California

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2-2014

Abstract

Sense of Coherence (SOC) is a construct that refers to the extent to which a person sees his or her world as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. Based on this theoretical orientation, people with a high SOC are less likely to perceive environmental stressors as threatening and are better able to adapt and maintain positive psychological well-being (Antonovsky, 1978). The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between Sense of Coherence (SOC-29) and its three subscales Comprehensibility (CO), Manageability (MA), and Meaningfulness (ME) and psychological well-being. It was hypothesized that high score in SOC and its subscales would predict positive psychological well-being, as measured by the Psychological General Well-being Index (PGWBI-22), among Latino immigrant farm workers “jornaleros de trabajo” working in agricultural fields in or near Santa Maria, California. A cross sectional study was used. A sample of 83 immigrants completed the self-assessment SOC-29, PGWBI-22 and socio demographic questionnaires. Simple linear regression analyses were applied to evaluate the sample data. Age, gender, and the interaction effect between gender and the overall SOC and between gender and each SOC subscale were included in the regression models to ensure the outcome obtained would be free from potential effects impacted by these confounding variables. The result of the analyses showed partial support in the direction of the stated hypothesis. It was determined that Comprehensibility and Sense of Coherence Total positively predicted psychological wellbeing, while Meaningfulness and Manageability yielded no significant effect. Additionally, age also predicted psychological well-being in each of the simple regression analyses tested. We concluded that Sense of Coherence, Comprehensibility and age positively and significantly predicted psychological well-being among immigrant jornaleros de trabajo. This Dissertation is available in Open Access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu

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