Development of a short version of the sense of coherence scale for population survey

A three-item sense of coherence (SOC) scale was developed, incorporating the definitions of the three subordinate concepts of SOC for use in population surveys. A cross-sectional internet survey was conducted in the latter part of July 2006. Cronbach's a was 0.84. The correlation coefficient of SOC-13 and the newly devised University of Tokyo Health Sociology version of the SOC Scale (SOC-3-UTHS) was 0.51. As regards correlation with a health index, SOC-3-UTHS had a significant association, although this association was somewhat weaker than that of SOC-13. Therefore, certain levels of convergent and concurrent validities of SOC-3-UTHS have been indicated.