Perceptions of parents' health status and relationship to somatic preoccupation

Objectives: This study was designed to examine the potential relationship o f family factors to somatic preoccupation. Method: A total of 116 internal medicine patients completed research booklets exploring perceptions of pare nts' health, childhood trauma, borderline personality symptomatology [Perso nality Diagnostic Questionnaire-Revised (PDQ-R)], and somatic preoccupation (Bradford Somatic Inventory). Results: Simple correlations revealed that m ost of the relationships between somatic preoccupation and remaining study variables were statistically significant (e.g., poor parental health status correlated to somatic preoccupation). Using path analysis, poor perception of mother's health demonstrated an indirect effect on somatic preoccupatio n via borderline personality symptomatology, whereas, poor perception of fa ther's health demonstrated an indirect effect on somatic preoccupation via childhood trauma. Neither parents' health status demonstrated direct effect s on somatic preoccupation. Conclusions: There appear to be parent gender d ifferences in the mediation of the relationship between poor parental healt h status and somatic preoccupation in the offspring. The implications of th ese findings are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reser ved.