Correlates of Coping based on the Concept of the Sociotype: a secondary data analysis of an Israeli National Survey.

The sociotype and its domains – Individual Health (IH), Relationships (R) and Context (C) – extends the bio-psychosocial model as an ecological construct that interacts with the genotype to determine phenotypic behavior throughout life. The sociotype framework enables classifying both the nature of stress and the varying responses to it. This paper provides empirical evidence for the sociotype and examines its relation to perceived coping. We conducted a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey on health inequalities in a representative Israeli Jewish sample of 1328 individuals, 30–70 yrs (45% men). Thirty variables were arranged into the above domains and composite scores calculated from sequential regression analyses. A coping score (CS) was determined from questions relating to mastery and coping efficacy. The mean population CS was 5.09 (SD 1.03; range 1.50–7.20); 5.23 for men vs. 4.97 for women (p < .00001). On univariate analysis, CS was not related to age; there were positive associations with health behaviors, education and economic situation and negative ones with smoking, stress and living alone. Correlations between the three domains ranged from 0.353 to 0.421 (all at p < .001). The individual contributions of each of the sociotype domains to the CS was 31.5% for IH, 16.8% for R and 17.8% for C; when combined they explained 32% of the variance. This was higher in men (40.7%) than in women (26.0%), who valued context more than relationships. In this population, the domains of the sociotype were related to perceived coping: longitudinal studies can determine its best predictors and the significance of any gender differences. The sociotype ecological model requires further testing in different settings, and for other phenotypic behaviors and responses to stresses, such as coping with chronic disease (adherence to medication) (IH), bereavement (R) and economic hardships (C).