Type D personality is a risk factor for psychosomatic symptoms and musculoskeletal pain among adolescents: a cross-sectional study of a large population-based cohort of Swedish adolescents

A population-based, self-reported cross-sectional study conducted in V？stmanland, Sweden with a cohort of 5012 students in the age between 15–18 years old. The participants completed the anonymous questionnaire Survey of Adolescent Life in V？stmanland 2008 during class hour. Psychosomatic symptoms and musculoskeletal pain were measured through index measuring the presence of symptoms and how common they were. DS14 and its two component subscales of negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI) were measured as well.There was a difference depending on sex, where 10.4% among boys and 14.6% among girls (p？=？< 0.001) were defined as Type D personality. Boys and girls with a Type D personality had an approximately 2-fold increased odds of musculoskeletal pain and a 5-fold increased odds of psychosomatic symptoms. The subscale NA explained most of the relationship between Type D personality and psychosomatic symptoms and musculoskeletal pain. No interaction effect of NA and SI was found.There was a strong association between Type D personality and both psychosomatic symptoms and musculoskeletal pain where adolescent with a type D personality reported more symptoms. The present study contributes to the mapping of the influence of Type D on psychosomatic symptoms and musculoskeletal pain among adolescents.The high prevalence of musculoskeletal and psychosomatic symptoms among adolescents in the western world is a problem involving significant costs for both individuals and societies [1,2]. Musculoskeletal pain and psychosomatic symptoms that appear during adolescence often persist into adulthood and may partly be explained by psychosocial and lifestyle factors [3-5]. Pain among adolescents has been identified as an important public health problem. Roth-Isigkeit found that 83% of children and adolescents had experienced pain during the preceding three months, with headache, abdominal, limb and back pain being the most prevalent types. Pain caused the respondents of th