The structure of Antonovsky's Orientation to Life Questionnaire

The present study investigated the structure of Antonovsky's (1987) short-form (13-item) Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ). The OLQ was developed to measure sense of coherence, which consists of three interrelated components: meaningfulness, comprehensibility and manageability. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out using data on three occupational groups (technical designers n = 989, teachers n = 1012, managers n = 1035). The factor analysis models were specified and compared in the study: (1) a first-order one-factor model; (2) a first-order correlated-three-factor model; and (3) a second-order model with three first-order factors. The results suggested that the first-order correlated-three-factor structure and the second-order structure fitted the data better than the one-factor structure. The second-order model in particular proved to be theoretically advantageous. It indicated thar the short-form OLQ could be conceptualized as a single general expectancy factor, sense of coherence, consisting of three interrelated first-order factors, i.e. meaningfulness, comprehensibility and manageability. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.