Relationship between the Mental and Physical Growth of Girls

Report 5. Concerning the Psychosomatic Symptoms of Girls in Puberty and Adolescence

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the psychosomatic Symptoms of girls between the ages of 10 and 18 years. For this purpose the questionnaire method was used.
The questionnaire used was based on one of about 50 items “concerning neurosis and organ neurosis” developed by Kida, from which basis 70 items were developed and organized into a check list.
The subjects of ths study were 755 girls from an urban elementary, middle and high school.
The results of this study were compared with the results of two similar studies made last year, one by Kashiwagi of Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and one by Saiki in the city of Nagaoka.
The major findings are as follows:
1) When we analyzed the answers to the 70 items of the questionnaire according to the Mann-Test, we found 24_ items in which the frequency increases gradually in accordance with rise in school years. Also, in the individual item scores over a period of two years, these 24 items show increasing frequency.
Out of these 24 items, 18 were found to be of increasing frequency according to the results of the test in Nagaoka City as well. From this, though the comparison involved only these two cities, we conclude that these 18 items represent the psychosomatic symptoms of girls in general, without regard to where they live.
2) The correlation between the psychosomatic items scored by the girls in adoleseen and the age at which the menarche was reached is not clearly traced. However, when we tested a small group of about 50 girls selected from those in each school grade who scored extremely high and extremely low scores, we found that the girls with high scores reached the menarche early (accelearted) and that girls with low scores reached the menarche late (retarded),
3) Concerning the correlation between the psychosomatic item scores and the body types, we found a few results. When we divided the subjects into groups according to age (10-13 and 14-18), we found that girls of poor height-and-weight growth (Type M) in the former group tended to mark the lower item scores. As the girls of body type M are retarded some in their whole bodily development, they are also low in the psychosomatic item scores, but this does not mean that they have psychosomatic disorders. While in the latter some tendency appeared.