Couples' adjustment to one partner's disability: the relationship between sense of coherence and adjustment.

The question addressed by the study is: how do people who function well after experiencing a stressful event resulting in a disability differ in their personality traits from those who show dysfunction? This was examined by means of the concept of sense of coherence (SOC). Two groups of subjects were assessed: the individuals with disability and their spouses. The subjects with disability all suffered from some form of paralysis resulting from either spinal cord injury or cerebrovascular. SOC was found to be significantly related to disability adjustment for both the individuals with disability and their spouses, indicating that SOC is a personality factor that explains individual differences in coping with a disability, regardless of level of severity.