[Epidemiology of psychosomatic symptoms and subjective health evaluation among secondary school students]

Abstract

The author investigated the prevalence of some common psychosomatic symptoms and self-perceived health in a sample of secondary school students in Szeged, Hungary. The sample (n = 1039, 14-19 years of age) was stratified by school type and sex. Self-completed questionnaire was used as a method of data collection. Two main purpose directed the study. First, to detect the most frequent psychosomatic symptoms and to experience how the secondary students evaluate their own health. Second, to investigate the role of psychological and social factors affecting the occurrence of psychosomatic symptoms and self-perceived health by using multivariate technique. In both sexes, chronic fatigue proved to be the most frequent psychosomatic symptoms which was followed by tension headache and lower back-pain in girls, while among boys lower back-pain and sleeping problems were reported as frequent symptoms. Comparing with the data of a previous research on university students, the secondary school students reported more symptoms, though they perceived their own health higher. In the background of the somatization both psychological (dysfunctional attitudes or inadequate coping) and social (father's unemployment or low level of social support from father) can be found beyond the developmental characteristics of the adolescence (e.g. a tendency for introspection). In case of the diagnose of psychosomatic symptoms in clinical practice there is a need for thinking about the social or psychological affecting factors and seeking professional help from a psychologist or social worker, if it is necessary.