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Table 1 Rasch analysis of the psychometric properites of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) subscales, total scale, and reduced scale (N = 428)

From: Psychometric limitations of the 13-item Sense of Coherence Scale assessed by Rasch analysis

Step

 

Meaningfulness

subscale

(4 items)

(#1, #4, #7, and #12)

Comprehensibility

subscale

(5 items)

(#2, #6, #8, #9, #11)

Manageability

subscale

(4 items)

(#3, #5, #10 and #13)

Total scale

(13 items)

Reduced scale

(11 items)

(#1 and #5 omitted)

1

Items not meeting criteria for rating scale

#7 and #12 a

None

#5b

#7 and #12 a; #5 b

#7 and #12 a

2

Item misfit

None

None

None

#1 and #5 c

None

3

Variance explained by1st dimension, %

55.0%

50.1%

47.3%

39.7%

42.8%

 2nd dimension, %

16.1%

14.6%

21.2%

9.6%

8.5%

4

Person misfit, n (%)

15 (3.5%)

19 (4.4%)

20 (4.7%)

40 (9.6%)

29 (6.8%)

 Maximum score, n (%)

19 (4.4%)

7 (1.6%)

12 (2.8%)

2 (0.5%)

2 (0.5%)

 Minimum score, n (%)

None

None

None

None

None

5

Person-separation index (without extremes)

1.41

1.54

1.18

2.19

2.10

Cronbach alpha

0.67

0.70

0.58

0.83

0.82

6

Differential item functioning (DIF)

     

 Age (<40 years vs ≥40 years)

No DIF

No DIF

No DIF

  

 Gender (male vs female)

No DIF

No DIF

No DIF

  

 Civil status (married/cohabitant vs not)

No DIF

#6 d

No DIF

  

 Education (≤12 years vs >12 years)

No DIF

No DIF

No DIF

  

 Work (Working/student vs not)

No DIF

No DIF

No DIF

  
  1. a#7 and #12: Scale step categories 1 and 2 reversed. After collapsing scale step categories 1 and 2, the rating scale met the criteria set
  2. b#5: Scale step categories 1 to 3 disordered (3,2,1,4,5,6,7). After collapsing scale step categories 1 to 3, the rating scale met criteria set
  3. c#1: Infit MnSq 1.32 StdZ 3.7; #5: Infit MnSq 1.34 StdZ 4.1
  4. dGroup 1: 46.61 Group 2: 44.11 p < .01