engleski

Coping Strategies and Psychosomatic Symptoms in Children

Background: Medically unexplained symptoms such as headache, recurrent abdominal pain, dizziness, fainting and vertigo are common in pediatric primary care throughout the world and they may be associated with marked distress and functional disability during childhood and adolescence. Number of children with psychosomatic complaints has increased over the last decade, while the age of onset has decreased (Just et al, 2003). A number of personal psychological characteristics have been found to play important role in developing and maintaining these symptoms, in particular such as self-efficacy beliefs, cognitive distortions, dysfunctional attributions, immature defense mechanisms and dysfunctional coping strategies (Carr, 1999). Coping strategies are assumed to be consciously and deliberately used methods for regulating negative emotions or to manage situations in which there is a perceived discrepancy between stressful demands and available resources. Aims: The paper presents the results of an investigation carried out with the aim of determining specific coping strategies in children with psychosomatic complaints. The research was carried out on a sample of 275 pupils aged from 11 to 16 years. It was hypothesized that different and specific coping strategies would be associated with number and sort of psychosomatic symptoms in children (cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, dermatological, pseudoneurological, and pain / weakness). Methods: Two self-report measures were administered: The Coping Strategies Inventory for Children and Adolescents (SUO) and The Psychosomatic Symptoms Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (PSS). Seven coping strategies were included: problem solving, expressing feelings, avoidance, distraction, social support from friends, social support from family and cognitive restructuring. Results: Data were analysed according to age and gender differences. Avoidance and expressing feelings are coping strategies that best predicts somatic complaints in this sample. Active ways of coping like problem solving, cognitive distraction, self-calming and asking for help from others, contribute to the better adaptation and decrease psychosomatic symptoms, in contrast to the more non-adaptive ways of coping like avoidance and expressing feelings. Data on age and sex were discussed as well. Conclusions: The results show a considerable contribution of different aspects of coping functioning to the health and development of somatic problems in the period childhood. However, it is important to state that different coping strategies have different effects to boys and girls psychosomatic complaints.

coping strategies; psychosomatic symptoms; children

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