Zeitschrift für Medizinische Psychologie 4/2006 165 Z Med Psychol 15 (2006), 165 – 171 Zusammenfassung Religiosität und Sense of Coherence – Protektive Faktoren für psychische Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden? Einleitung: Wir untersuchten den Einfluss von Religiosität und Sense of Coherence auf die psychische Gesundheit und allgemeine Lebenszufriedenheit. Methoden: In der vorliegenden Studie wurden 389 Probanden von verschiedenen Settings rekrutiert (n = 251 Psychosomatikpatienten und n = 138 gesunde Blutspender). Die Unter- suchungsteilnehmer füllten Fragebögen zur Erfassung von traumatischen Ereignissen, posttraumatischer Symptomatik, Angst, Depression und Sense of Coherence aus. Ergebnisse: Wir fanden keine signifikanten Korrelationen zwischen Religiosität und Vari- ablen der psychischen Gesundheit sowie der allgemeinen Lebenszufriedenheit. Im Gegen- satz zeigten sich hochsignifikante Korrelationen zwischen Sense of Coherence und Angst (r = -0,60), Depression (r = -0,59), posttraumatischer Symptomatik (r = -0,53) und allge- meiner Lebenszufriedenheit (r = 0,58). Diskussion: Die Befunde sprechen für die Annahme, dass nicht die Religiosität, sondern das Kohärenzgefühl einen relevanten protektiven Faktor für psychische Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden darstellt. Schlagworte Sense of Coherence, Religiosität, Lebenszufriedenheit, psychische Gesundheit, PTSD Abstract Introduction: We aimed to assess the impact of both religiosity and sense of coherence on mental health and general life satisfaction. Methods: In this study, we recruited 389 individuals from different settings (n = 251 psy- chosomatic outpatients and n = 138 healthy blood donors). The participants completed measures of exposure to psychologically traumatic events, posttraumatic symptoms, anxi- ety, depression, and sense of coherence. Results: We did not find any significant associations between religiosity and mental health variables and life satisfaction. In contrast, significant highly correlations were seen be- tween sense of coherence and anxiety (r = -0.60), depression (r = -0.59), PTSD symptom- atology (r = -0.53), and life satisfaction (r = 0.58). Discussion: Based on our results, sense of coherence but not religiosity may be a protective factor for mental health and well-being. Key-Words Sense of coherence, religiosity, life satisfaction, mental health, PTSD Correspondence-address: Dr. rer. medic. Dipl. Psych. Sefik Tagay, Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstr. 174, 45147 Essen, Germany. Tel.:+49 201 7227 506; Fax: +49 201 7227 305; E-mail: sefik.tagay@uni-essen.de. 1 Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. 2 Department of Medicine Psychology and Medicine Sociology, University of Leipzig, Germany. Religiosity and sense of coherence – Protective factors of mental health and well-being? Sefik Tagay 1 , Yesim Erim 1 , Elmar Brähler 2 & Wolfgang Senf 1 1 Introduction Religion is among the most important cultural factors which gives structure and meaning to human values, behaviors, and experiences (Durkheim, 1981). Surveys of the US population during the past 70 years have established that religion holds a central place in the lives of many Amer- icans. A 1999 Gallup poll reported that 95% of Americans believe in God, 57% pray on a regular basis. Almost three quarters of Americans say that their ap- proach to life is grounded in their reli- gious faith (Gallup & Lindsay, 1981). Another poll found that 79% of Ameri- cans believe that religion and spiritual ac- tivities provide comfort in the face of ill- ness, 56% reported that faith actually did help them recover and 63% reported that physicians should talk to patients about spiritual issues (McNichol, 1996). In contrast to the United States, religion does not hold a central place in the lives of Germans. In East Germany (former German Democratic Republic) only 20% belong to an organizational religion, but more people in Western Germany believe in God, pray on a regular basis and be- long to a organizational religion. All in all, in Germany, fewer people have a reli- gious commitment than in the USA (Al- bani et al., 2002; Koenig, McCullough & Larson, 2001). A large proportion of published empir- ical data suggest that religious commit- ment may play a beneficial role in pre- venting mental and physical illness, im- proving how people cope with mental and physical illness, and facilitating recovery from illness and distress (Mueller, Plevak & Rummans, 2001). Frequent religious service attendance has been associated with lower mortality, lower blood pres- sure and lower levels of depressive symp- toms (Steffen et al., 2001). In a recent re- view, a majority of the nearly 350 studies of physical health and 850 studies of mental health that have used religious and spiritual variables have found that reli- gious involvement and spirituality are as-