Families who somatize

Abstract

This investigation extends a previous study of children of people with somatization disorder and children of less severely affected somatizers. We used the revised Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents, revised, and abstracted medical records to compare families in which a child as well as a parent had unexplained somatic complaints; we also identified parental predictors of children's somatization. Children in families with somatizing children had more emergency room use, more suicidal behavior, and more disability. Children in families of somatization disorder adults had 11.7 times as many emergency room visits as less severely affected somatizers and missed 8.8 times as much school. Parental somatization, substance abuse, and antisocial symptoms predicted children's somatization. Physicians in primary care should be aware of the frequency with which somatization occurs in other members of a family when it is identified in one member.