{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,22]],"date-time":"2026-01-22T01:32:34Z","timestamp":1769045554100,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,31]],"date-time":"2023-10-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1698710400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001322","name":"South African Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SIR Grant"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SIR Grant"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001322","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["EJIHPE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The literature has identified that a sense of coherence plays a protective role in the relationship between adverse events and mental health. The current study examines the role of a sense of coherence (SOC) in the relationship between fear of COVID-19, perceived stress, and dimensions of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants (n = 322) were students at a metropolitan university in South Africa who completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, the 13-item Sense of Coherence Scale, and the PTSD Checklist. Path analysis was used to conduct a serial mediation analysis. The results show that SOC mediates the relationship between perceived stress and the dimensions of PTSD but does not mediate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and PTSD. Furthermore, the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and dimensions of PTSD was mediated by serial perceived stress and sense of coherence, supporting the hypothesis that higher levels of fear of COVID-19 leads to higher levels of perceived stress. However, while high levels of fear of COVID-19 increase perceived stress, SOC significantly mediates the subsequent impact on PTSD symptoms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ejihpe13110169","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,31]],"date-time":"2023-10-31T12:53:32Z","timestamp":1698756812000},"page":"2399-2409","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Fear of COVID-19, Perceived Stress, and PTSD: The Serial Mediating Role of Sense of Coherence"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7733-7486","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anita","family":"Padmanabhanunni","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7530, South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6325-6623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tyrone Brian","family":"Pretorius","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7530, South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Saeed, H., Eslami, A., Nassif, N.T., Simpson, A.M., and Lal, S. 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