%0 Journal Article
%T Childhood Somatic Complaints: Relationships With Child Emotional Functioning and Parental Factors - Childhood Somatic Complaints: Relationships With Child Emotional Functioning and Parental Factors - Open Access Pub
%A Francine C. Jellesma
%J OAP | Home | Journal of Behavior Therapy And Mental Health | Open Access Pub
%D 2018
%X Many schoolchildren experience somatic complaints such as headaches, abdominal pain and fatigue. The aim of the current research is to test the full model of previously found associations between negative affect and somatic complaints in parents and children. Participants were 199 children (aged 8-13, 47% boys) and their parents (aged 31-61, mostly mothers (87%). Self-reports of children and parents on worry, anxiety, depression and somatic complaints were used and parentsĄ¯ reactions to childrenĄ¯s emotions wereassessed. The results of the study show that childhood negative affect and parental somatic complaints are positively associated with childhood somatic complaints. In turn, childhood negative affect is related to childrenĄ¯s worrying and to parentsĄ¯ responses to childrenĄ¯s emotions. The more anxious or depressed children felt, the more they worried. Maladaptive parental responses (such as reprimands and discomfort) to child emotions were positively related to depression. It was also found that parents who experienced more negative affect, reported more somatic complaints and tended to report more maladaptive responses towards their childrenĄ¯s emotions. DOI10.14302/issn.2474-9273.jbtm-16-1173 Many schoolchildren experience somatic complaints such as headaches, abdominal pain and fatigue: prevalence rates range between 10 and 30% for recurrent or chronic complaints 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. These complaints frequently are associated with psychological problems 6, 7, 8. A significant amount of research during the past few decades has been devoted to determining relationships between various psychological factors and childhood somatic complaints 9. Some researchers have focused on the positive relationship between negative affect and somatic complaints 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. Other researchers have taken an interest in parental factors that could cause somatic complaints in children 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. These two lines of research have resulted in research outcomes that are theoretically compatible. Still, they have not yet been integrated. The Relationship Between Negative Affect and Somatic Complaints Negative emotions or stress have a physiological component: the body responds in order to enable a person to fight or flight from situations that cause negative emotions or stress. According to the biobehavioral model of pediatric pain and the perseverative cognition hypothesis, negative affect in the form of depression, anxiety or worrying, is an intensified and prolonged psychological state 12, 14. The belonging physiological responses that are
%U https://www.openaccesspub.org/jbtm/article/359