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Physical Health Complaints in Adolescents: Findings From the 2018 Brandenburg HBSC Study

  • 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 =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.show moreshow less

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Author: Avelina Lovis-Schmidt, Ludwig BilzORCiD, Kyra Pahlke, Heiner Rindermann
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000090
ISSN:2512-8442
Title of the source (German):European Journal of Health Psychology
Document Type:Scientific journal article peer-reviewed
Language:English
Year of publication:2022
Tag:HBSC-study; adolescents; emotion and stress; health complaints; social support
Volume/Year:29
Issue number:3
First Page:121
Last Page:133
Faculty/Chair:Fakultät 4 Humanwissenschaften (bis 2023 Soziale Arbeit, Gesundheit und Musik) / FG Pädagogische Psychologie in Gesundheitsberufen
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