Associations between psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence and mental health symptoms in early adulthood

Abstract

This longitudinal study explored associations between psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence and mental health symptoms in early adulthood. The baseline data were collected in 1996 from 14-year-old pupils (n = 235; 116 girls, 119 boys) at schools using a structured questionnaire that included a 14-item scale of psychosomatic symptoms. The follow-up data were collected in 2006 from the same persons at the age of 24 using the Symptom Checklist-90. Follow-up questionnaires were returned by 149 (63.4%) young adults (88 women and 61 men). Young adults who had many psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence suffered more often than the others from somatization and anxiety symptoms in early adulthood. In addition, women had more symptoms of depression and paranoid ideation, and men had more interpersonal sensitivity and psychotic symptoms. Psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence might be important signals of mental health and this should be taken seriously in school health and in general primary care.

Psychosomatic problems in relation to alcohol use and physical exercise: a study between 1988 and 2011 among adolescents in Sweden

“…Adolescent psychosomatic symptoms such as pain, sleep problems, and bad moods have been associated with adverse prospective outcomes such as the development of psychiatric diagnoses and future psychosomatic problems (Bohman et al 2012;Ruchkin and Schwab-Stone 2014;Kinnunen et al 2010). Alcohol use and exercise have also been associated with mental health prospectively (Huurre et al 2010;Tan et al 2014;Fedewa et al 2014;Biddle and Asare 2011;Kushner et al 1999) but to the best of our knowledge no prior study has investigated the association between adolescent psychosomatic problems in relation to lifestyles in terms of both alcohol use and exercise.…”

“…Further, psychosomatic symptoms in adolescence are risk factors for psychiatric disorders such as depression, somatisation disorders and anxiety disorders in early adulthood (e.g. Bohman et al 2012;Kinnunen et al 2010). Humans do, however, have some agency in influencing their current and future health.…”

Primary Care, Depression, and Anxiety: Exploring Somatic and Emotional Predictors of Mental Health Status in Adolescents

“…Reporting of primary care mental health screening is limited and it typically highlights only older populations. 29,30 The logic behind assessing protective factors' role in depression and anxiety diagnoses is sound, but ours is the first study explicitly looking at protective factors' contribution to whether adolescents screen positive for depression and anxiety. Although there is some overlap between the somatic and emotional risk profiles of depression and anxiety, our results show that the protective and social risk factors indicate that it may be important to screen for both disorders, considering anxiety's considerable impact.…”

Schulform, soziales Kapital und subjektive Gesundheit in der Adoleszenz

“…Hier wurden die Kategorien "stimmt genau" und "stimmt ziemlich" den Kategorien "weder/noch", "stimmt nicht", "stimmt überhaupt nicht" gegenübergestellt. Auch diese 6 Items wurden zusammengefasst (0-6 Punkte) und dichotomisiert in niedriges (0-2) und hohes (3)(4)(5)(6) Interessenkonfl ikt: Die Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonfl ikt besteht.…”