Modelling trajectories of psychosomatic health complaints in children and adolescents: results of the BELLA study

Abstract

Psychosomatic health complaints (PHC) can significantly impair psychosocial development of children and adolescents and are therefore of considerable interest in health sciences and public health surveillance. Questions addressed the type of function that describes individual trajectories best, potential differences between these, and corresponding predictors from the perspective of both children and their parents. Based on the German population-based and representative BELLA cohort sample, 2,857 children and adolescents between 7 and 17 years of age at baseline were analysed over a period of 3 years with yearly follow-ups using mixed growth curve analyses. PHC were measured in accordance with the health behaviour in school-aged children-symptom checklist. The mean level of PHC was rather low, slightly lower for the parent report than for the self-report and significantly different between subjects. Concerning the parent report, the 2-year course is best described by a slowly increasing linear trend that decelerates somewhat over time. The increasing linear trend was more pronounced in the self-report from 11 to 17 years of age, but was significantly different for each subject and correlated with baseline scores. Trajectories could be explained by known predictors, most importantly by mental health problems of the child or adolescent. The results confirm the findings of previous studies and provide representative data about the individual short-term development of PHC in children and adolescents in Germany.

Family residency and psychosomatic problems among adolescents in Sweden: The impact of child-parent relations

“…In using the term psychosomatic in a general sense, without making any presumptions about aetiology, and by including both somatic and psychological complaints in the operationalisation, the present study is consistent with previous public health studies among children and adolescents [18].…”

Student achievement goals and psychosomatic health complaints among Swedish adolescents: the role of sex

“…The qualitative format used in the PSP scale has been shown to work better than the quantitative format used in the HBSC-SCL scale (Andrich 2004;Hagquist 2008). In this study, psychosomatic problems are used as a generic concept tapping psychological and somatic complaints, and without making any presumptions about aetiology, which is in line with other studies addressing psychosomatic health among children and adolescents using the PSP and HBSC-SCL scales (Barkmann et al 2015;Hagquist 2016).…”

Self-perception of physical activity and fitness is related to lower psychosomatic health symptoms in adolescents with unhealthy lifestyles

“…Adolescence is a time of rapid psychological, physical, and social change. Consumer culture, the development of technologies, and demanding educational requirements make adolescents in Western countries experience challenges to their subjective well-being and psychosocial distress, which can lead to psychosomatic health complaints (PHC) [1–3]. Psychosomatic symptoms are physical symptoms without definitive organic diagnosis.…”