School-related stress, school support, and somatic complaints: A general population study

This study examines the relationship between school-related stress, social support from teachers and classmates, and somatic complaints in the general population of Norwegian adolescents. The study war undertaken as parr of t he World Health Organization's survey "Health Behaviour in School-Aged Chil dren " (HBSC). A representative sample of 4,952 Norwegian 11- to 15-year-ol ds completed self-report measures on school-related stress, social support from teacher and classmates, and the HBSC symptom checklist. Multivariate l ogistic regression analysis revealed that students with high levels of scho ol-related stress had a higher odds ratio (OR) for weekly headache (4. 1), abdominal pain (3. 9), backache (4.8), diuiness (5.4), and coexisting somat ic complaints (6.1). For social support, the associations were weaker but s tudents with low classmate support had a consistently higher OR for weekly symptoms. Interaction terms of school-related stress and social support did not reach significance. Findings suggest that adolescents 'frequency of so matic complaints partly may reflect their adaptation to ordinary school dem ands.