Open AccessPhysical Health Complaints in Adolescents
Author(s) -
Avelina Lovis-Schmidt,
Ludwig Bilz,
Kyra Pahlke,
Heiner Rindermann
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
european journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2512-8442
pISSN - 2512-8450
DOI - 10.1027/2512-8442/a000090
Subject(s) - sadness , anger , psychology , social support , structural equation modeling , physical health , clinical psychology , path analysis (statistics) , headaches , developmental psychology , mental health , psychiatry , social psychology , statistics , mathematics
. Background: Some of the physical health complaints adolescents have, such as headaches and stomachaches, cannot be explained on a somatic level. It is unclear which psychological factors can explain these complaints: stress and social support are often discussed, but emotions rarely are. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to use social support, stress, the tendency toward negative emotions, and health behaviors to predict physical health complaints in adolescents. Method: The 2018 HBSC (Health Behavior in School-aged Children) data from the German state of Brandenburg was analyzed via structural equation and path modeling ( N = 3,068, age M = 13.05). Results: Results showed that the tendency toward negative emotions seems to be a better predictor for health complaints (β = .35) than stress (β = .17), and even better suited than social support (β = −.08) or health behavior (β = −.06 to β = .16). In the analysis of specific emotions (anger, sadness, and fear), correlations were low and between sadness and complaints they were highest (average β = .19). Limitations: The present cross-sectional study could not examine long-term outcomes. In addition, the results are limited to only a few physical complaints. Future long-term studies should examine multiple disease symptoms in adolescence. Conclusion: The investigated tendency toward negative emotions demonstrated promising results to better understand the relationship between psychological factors and physical health complaints. As negative emotions were particularly important in predicting physical health, prevention programs for adolescents should focus on dealing with negative emotions to improve their health.