Psychosocial factors affecting psychosomatic symptoms in Japanese schoolchildren

Background: In a previous study we reported the prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms in 1619 Osaka elementary schoolchildren using our original genera l health questionnaire assessed by their parents. We found that psychosomat ic symptoms were increasing with age. This study was designed to investigat e psychosocial factors responsible for increasing psychosomatic symptoms wi th age. Methods: We calculated a correlation coefficient between the physical compl aints score (PCS) and these psychosocial variables using quantitation I of multiple regression analysis separately in the older (10-12 years, n=860) a nd the younger age group (7-9 years, n=759). Results: A stronger relationship between PCS and psychosocial problems was found in the older (r=0.719, P < 0.0001) than in the younger age group (r=0 .570, P < 0.0001). Further analysis demonstrated that difficulties in schoo l performance and increasing psychological conflicts with human relationshi ps were major causes of somatic complaints in the older age group. In the y ounger age group, however, immaturity of social skills seems to be a primar y problem. In addition, poor parental interaction and the playing of comput er games were found to increase somatic complaints in children. Conclusion: Children in the older age reflect the closer bio-psycho-socio i nteraction compared with their younger counterparts. This may give rise to a high incidence of psychosomatic disorders and school refusal in Japanese children. We emphasize that psychological support by parents in daily life is necessary to reduce psychosomatic symptoms in children.