Table 2.

Bivariable analysis: associations of relevant variables with a strong sense of coherence (SOC) (SOC scale score median > 42)

Variables	Categories	SOC scale score median	p-valuea
Gender	Male	42
	Female	42	0.589
Father’s education	High	43
	Low	41	0.079
Having religious beliefs	No	42
	Yes	42	0.205
Income sufficiency	Sufficient	43
	Insufficient	40	< 0.001
Only-child	Yes	42
	No	42	0.035
Birth place	Countryside	42
	Small city	42
	Large cityb	43	0.482
Subjective health	Good	43
	Poor	37	< 0.001
Health awareness	High	43
	Low	39	< 0.001
Nutrition importance	Important	43
	Unimportant	37	< 0.001
Physical activity	< 1 a week	40
	1–2 a week	42
	≥ 3 a week	44	< 0.001
Weight satisfaction	Satisfied	43
	Dissatisfied	41	0.015
Good grade importance	Important	42
	Unimportant	40	0.282
Performance compared with peers	Better	44
	The same	43
	Worse	38	< 0.001
Having a partner	Yes	43
	No	42	0.250
Social support	Satisfied	44
	Dissatisfied	37	< 0.001
Relation with parents	Good	43
	Poor	37	< 0.001
Relation with fellow students	Good	43
	Poor	37	< 0.001
Relation with friends	Good	43
	Poor	36	< 0.001
Isolation at university	No	43
	Yes	37	< 0.001
Political situation	Satisfied	44
	Dissatisfied	39	< 0.001
Age			0.026
BMI			0.292
Perceived stress scale score			< 0.001

^aChi square test for categorical variables and Mann–Whitney-U-test for continuous variables

^bCities higher than county level