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The medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky (1923–1994) introduced the term “salutogenesis” which derives from the Latin “salus = health” and the Greek “genesis = origin.” Antonovsky was mainly interested in the question of what creates and what sustains health rather than explaining the causes of disease in the pathogenic direction (Antonovsky, 1979, 1987, 1993). In his salutogenetic model, he described health as a continuum between total ease (health) and total disease rather than a health-disease dichotomy. Therefore, his most important research question was: What causes health (salutogenesis)? (rather than what are the reasons for disease (pathogenesis)). The core concepts of salutogenesis show great conceptual overlap with the theory of “hardy personality” (Kobasa, 1979, 1982), the theory of “self-efficacy” (Bandura, 1977), and with the theory of “resilience” (Werner & Smith, 1982).
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References and Readings
Antonovsky, A. (1979). Health, stress, and coping. San Francisco/Washington/London: Jossey-Bass.
Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health. San Francisco/London: Jossey-Bass.
Antonovsky, A. (1993). The structure and properties of the sense of coherence scale. Social Science & Medicine, 36, 725–733.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.
Eriksson, M., & Lindström, B. (2005). Validity of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 59, 460–466.
Eriksson, M., & Lindström, B. (2007). Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale and it’s relation with quality of life – a systematic review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 61, 938–944.
Kobasa, S. C. (1979). Stressful life events, personality, and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1–11.
Kobasa, S. C. (1982). The hardy personality: Toward a social psychology of stress and health. In G. S. Sanders & J. Suls (Eds.), Social psychology of health and illness (pp. 3–32). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schnyder, U., Büchi, S., Mörgeli, H., Senky, T., & Klaghofer, R. (1999). Sense of coherence-a mediator between disability and handicap? Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 68, 102–110.
Singer, S., & Brähler, E. (2007). Die “Sense of coherence scale”. Testhandbuch zur deutschen Version. Göttingen, LS: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Tagay, S., Düllmann, S., Schlegl, S., Nater-Mewes, R., Repic, N., Hampke, Ch, Brähler, E., Gerlach, G., & Senf, W. (2011). Effects of inpatient treatment on eating disorder symptoms, health-related quality of life and personal resources in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medizinische Psychologie, 61(7), 319–327.
Tagay, S., Erim, Y., Brähler, E., & Senf, W. (2006). Religiosity and sense of coherence – protective factors of mental health and well-being? Zeitschrift für Medizinische Psychologie, 4, 165–171.
Tagay, S., Mewes, R., Brähler, E., & Senf, W. (2009). Sense of coherence in female patients with bulimia nervosa: A protective factor of mental health? Psychiatrische Praxis, 36, 30–34.
Werner, E., & Smith, R. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible. A longitudinal study of resilient children and youth. New York: McGraw Hill.
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Tagay, S. (2013). Salutogenesis. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_55
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