The Relationship between Physical Complaints in High School Students and the Responses of Their Families

Abstract

　　The aim of the current study was to ascertain the relationship between physical complaints of high school students such as abdominal pain and headaches and the responses of their families. In order to achieve this aim, the current author hypothesized that the family's response to a child's complaint would affects the frequency of the symptom through psychological stress on the child, and this hypothesis was tested. Subjects were 150 high school students who felt physically unwell (abdominal pain, diarrhea/constipation, headache, nausea, hyperventilation, dizziness, or pain in other parts of the body) in the past six months. Correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between the frequency of the symptom and the child's stress response and between the child's stress response and their family's response. A path analysis was performed using a child's stress response as the parameter. Results indicated that the frequency of the symptom increased due to a child's lethargy caused by a family's “despondent/avoidant” response, whereby the family made no attempt to take action to address the child's complaint. This result supports the hypothesis and empirically indicates that a family's response to a child's complaint affects the frequency of the symptom through psychological stress on the child.