Perceived Parental Support and Self-Reported Psychosomatic Complaints Among Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract

Recurrent headache, abdominal pain, backache and dizziness are common in adolescence and are often not explained by an identifiable organic cause. Such psychosomatic complaints are frequently linked to stress and are regarded as an indicator of broader mental health difficulties. Parenting practices, and parental support in particular, are recognised as protective for adolescent mental health, but the association of parental support with psychosomatic complaints is less consistently described. This online cross-sectional survey, conducted as part of a doctoral study of parenting and adolescent psychosomatic health, examined the association between perceived parental support and the frequency of self-reported psychosomatic complaints among 75 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years attending 10 schools, and tested whether the association persists after adjustment for sociodemographic factors, peer support and psychological distress. Parental support was measured with the family subscale of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and psychosomatic complaints with the somatic items of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Symptom Checklist. Data were analysed with multivariable linear regression (with school-clustered standard errors) and logistic regression, and moderation by sex and age and mediation by psychological distress were also examined. The mean parental support score was 4.81 (SD = 1.19) on the 1–7 scale and the mean somatic complaint score was 8.21 (SD = 3.34) on the 0–16 scale; 81.3% of adolescents reported at least two symptoms weekly or more often. Higher parental support was associated with fewer complaints (r = −.34, 95% CI [−.52, −.12], p = .003), and the association persisted after adjustment for age, sex, family structure, family affluence, peer support and psychological distress (B = −0.93 per scale point, 95% CI [−1.57, −0.28], p = .006). It did not differ by sex (p = .996) or age (p = .654), and psychological distress did not mediate it (indirect effect 0.00, 95% bootstrap CI [−0.15, 0.14]). The association with the binary indicator of frequent complaints was in the same direction but not significant (adjusted OR = 0.71, 95% CI [0.40, 1.25]). Higher perceived parental support was therefore associated with fewer psychosomatic complaints, independently of peer support, distress and sociodemographic factors. Because the sample is small and the design is cross-sectional, the findings describe association only and need confirmation in larger samples.