NCJ Number
246676
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 43 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2014 Pages: 834-845
Date Published
May 2014
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the predictive role of internalizing psychopathology (anxiety, posttraumatic stress, depression) and somatic anxiety for somatic complaints over a 1-year period in a community sample of urban youth.
Abstract
Despite the frequent association between anxiety and somatization, the role of somatic anxietya tendency to experience somatic sensations, when anxiousin relationship to persistent somatic complaints has not been addressed previously. This study assessed the predictive role of internalizing psychopathology (anxiety, posttraumatic stress, depression) and somatic anxiety for somatic complaints over a 1-year period in a community sample of urban youth. The Social and Health Assessment, a self-report survey, was administered to 2,524 (mean age = 12.8, 54 percent female) American urban adolescents in two consecutive years. There was significant continuity of somatic complaints over 1 year. Girls reported higher levels of somatic complaints and somatic anxiety than boys. All types of internalizing psychopathology significantly predicted somatic complaints over time. Somatic anxiety was associated with somatic complaints over and above the role of internalizing symptoms. Internalizing psychopathology and somatic anxiety should both be considered in the assessment and treatment of youth with persistent somatic complaints. Abstract published by arrangement with Springer.