Somatic health and its association with negative psychosocial factors in a sample of Moroccan adolescents

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a distinct developmental phase characterized by multiple physical and psychological changes and by an increased vulnerability to somatic and mental health problems. These risk and vulnerability factors are part of a complex biopsychosocial matrix, encompassing multiple factors, such as inherited biological determinants and psychological, societal, and cultural influences, which affect an adolescent’s overall wellbeing. In Morocco, similar to other developing countries, adolescents (young people aged from 15 to 19 years) constitute a substantial proportion of the population (almost 9%). However, studies about adolescents’ health in developing countries are scarce. In this study, we describe adolescents’ somatic health in a sample of high school students from the city of Tetouan, Morocco, and investigate how negative psychosocial factors, such as parental alcohol use problems and/or the experience of abuse, may influence them. Methods: The study sample included 655 adolescents (315 boys and 340 girls, M = 16.64 years, range = 15–18 years) from conviniently selected classes of four high schools in the city of Tetouan in Morocco. The students responded to a survey that assessed the prevalence of somatic complaints/disorders. They also indicated whether they had ever experienced physical and/or psychological abuse and whether they had parents with alcohol use problems. Results: More than half of the adolescents suffered from headaches and one-third had substantial problems with diarrhea or constipation. Both problems were more common in female students. The third most frequent somatic problem, affecting one in four in both genders, was allergy. Almost one-third of Moroccan adolescents (significantly more boys than girls; p = 0.004) reported no somatic complaints. In adolescents who reported parental alcohol use problems and/or experience of physical and/or psychological abuse, the prevalence of several somatic complaints (epilepsy, migraine, headache, diarrhea/constipation, gluten intolerance, allergy, and skin or thyroid disease) increased highly significantly compared to the adolescents who reported no such psychosocial environmental factors. Conclusion: The results suggest that only 3 in 10 urban-living Moroccan adolescents are free of somatic complaints, while the majority suffer from some somatic problems, most often headaches and diarrhea/constipation. The association of certain negative psychosocial factors with adolescents’ somatic health suggests the need of a holistic approach to the treatment of affected adolescents.

Psychological Distress, Somatic Complaints and Their Relation to Negative Psychosocial Factors in a Sample of Swedish High School Students

“…About 50% of the Swedish high school students reported one or several somatic complaints, a similar prevalence to what was found in a large-scale nation-wide Swedish study [55]. There were no gender differences in the number of reported somatic complaints, a result that may contradict previous observations, where female adolescents reported more somatic complaints [6,7,55]. The most prevalent somatic complaint was allergy (found in more than one-third of the study population), followed by migraine and asthma (reported by about 15% of the study population).…”

“…Approximately 50% of them reported the experience of both physical and psychological abuse. In comparison, the prevalence of physical and psychological abuse reported by the adolescent student sample in the Moroccan study [7,11,13] were 17% of the females and 13% of the males. We hypothesize, that this significant discrepancy can be explained not only by cultural differences (between Sweden and Morocco) but also by a difference in time between the two data collections.…”

“…The MeSHe Somatic health questionnaire assesses the presence of the following selected physical complaints or diseases: Problems with diarrhea with diarrhea or constipation for a period longer than 14 days; the existence of head injury; cancer/leukemia or other tumor diagnoses; epilepsy; rheumatological diseases; diabetes, asthma; other allergies; skin diseases; celiac diseases; tuberculosis; migraines; thyroid diseases. The MeSHe Somatic health questionnaire previously showed high test-retest reliability [7].…”

Physical Disorders are Associated with Health Risk Behaviors in Chinese Adolescents: A Latent Class Analysis

“…The Global Burden of Disease study reported that, from 1980 to 2016, diarrhea was the eighth leading cause of death worldwide, with more than 16.5 million deaths every year [4]. One third of adolescents suffer from diarrhea in developing countries [5] and a study found that fever and diarrhea often appear together in patients [6]. Fever was the most common symptom of health care needs in the tropics and low-income countries.…”

Socioemotional Resources Account for Academic Adjustment in Moroccan Adolescents

“…Previous studies that have considered Moroccan adolescents have focused on immigrants living in other, mainly European countries ( Curtis et al, 2018 ), but recently, Morocco has displayed an interest in using the education system to enhance its development ( World Bank Group, 2019 ), prompting growth in efforts to analyze which areas should be focused on. These areas include physical and mental health, emphasizing medical models (i.e., Zouini et al, 2019a , b ), and psychosocial aspects [i.e., social support or emotional intelligence (EI); Lopez-Zafra et al, 2019 ]. However, the interplay between these psychosocial (socioemotional) aspects and academic adjustment still needs to be addressed.…”