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

Abstract

Aim The aim was to investigate the association between psychosomatic problems and lifestyle patterns of alcohol use and physical exercise in adolescence. Subject and Methods Cross-sectional questionnaire data from 8 years of investigations were used. The sample included over 20,000 adolescents (50 % girls), aged 15-16. Adolescents were divided into three groups depending on psychosomatic problem load: 10th, 11th-89th and 90th percentiles on the psychosomatic problems scale (PSP). A composite measure of alcohol use (frequent/rarely/never) and physical exercise (regular/little/never) was created, resulting in nine combinations of health-related behaviours, and used as dependent variable. Results Multinomial regression analysis showed that those over the 90th percentile of the PSP had nearly 12 times higher odds of regular alcohol use combined with no exercise compared with those who had the least symptoms. The former subgroup also had higher odds of belonging to all suboptimal lifestyle categories. Those in the 11th-89th percentiles had increased, albeit smaller, odds of belonging to all lifestyle categories. Descriptive data analysis indicated gender differences and changes over time in the strength of the association between psychosomatic problems and health-related behaviours but the regression analysis did not show any statistically significant interactions. The proportion of adolescents engaging in the unhealthiest lifestyle had decreased over time while reports of psychosomatic problems had increased.Conclusion Adolescents with the greatest psychosomatic symptom load were the most likely to engage in unhealthy lifestyles. This may mean multiplied risks of future psychopathology and warrants longitudinal investigations.

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

“…Further, we expected that adolescents demonstrating poorer health-related behavioural profiles would show higher PHC. This assumption was confirmed in our study and adds to the knowledge that adolescents with the greatest psychosomatic symptoms are most likely to engage in unhealthy lifestyles [2, 12, 16–18]. However, the novelty of our finding is that we analysed several health-related habits, such as physical activity, screen – time behaviour, nutrition habits, alcohol consumption and smoking.…”

“…This might be explained by the growing popularity of screen-based activities and sedentary lifestyle, which are related to backache and headache [9]. The majority of studies show that the prevalence of PHC is higher in girls [2, 10–12] and increases with age [2]. The region of Northern Europe has a minor but significant increasing trend in adolescent PHC between 1980 and 2016 [13].…”

“…Adolescents demonstrating health-compromising lifestyle behaviours are the most likely to have PHC and vice versa. Studies show that risky behaviours (use of alcohol and smoking), not exercising, being overweight, poor body image, negative self-esteem, poor perception of health, lower sense of coherence, problematic internet use, online gaming for escape reasons, and perceived psychosocial stress are the main predictors of PHC [2, 12, 16–21].…”

“…However, the results of the studies exploring the associations of PHC and physical activity are not consistent. Some studies show that physical activity is related to or even plays a protective role for PHC [11, 12, 17, 22–25], while others show no associations [26, 27]. Further, some studies demonstrate positive relationships for boys but not for girls [2, 21].…”

“…There is a lack of studies which analyse adolescent PHC and their complex relationship to lifestyles in terms of alcohol and smoking, nutrition, physical activity, physical fitness perception, and participation in sports. Usually, potential risk factors for PHC are investigated as independent main factors; however, the interaction between those factors may help to explain any magnified or suppressed risk [12]. Physical activity might positively impact changes in important health behaviours; thus, it is important to understand what mechanisms underlie these changes.…”