Table 1 Overview characteristics and differences between the Sense of Coherence, narratives of meaningful endurance and narratives of non-directional distress
SOC components | Narrative characteristics | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Narratives of meaningful endurance | Narratives of non-directional distress | ||
Comprehensibility | Structure | Structured | Fragmented |
Causality | Focus on causal relation between events | No imposed causal order, random occurrence | |
Manageability | Authorship & agency | Self is presented as the main author of life story, focus on agency | Self is presented as not having authorship over the life-story, focus on lack of agency |
Meaningfulness | Narrating adversity | Adversity is reinterpreted as meaningful, contributing to some purpose | Adversity is narrated as disruptive and serving no purpose |