The relation of daily stressors to somatic and emotional symptoms in children with and without recurrent abdominal pain

Prior investigations of the relation between stressors and symptoms in chil dren with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) have focused on major negative lif e events. This study used consecutive daily telephone interviews to assess daily stressors and symptoms in 154 pediatric patients with RAP and 109 wel l children. Results showed that patients with RAP reported more frequent da ily stressors than well children reported both at home and at school. Idiog raphic (within-subject) analyses indicated that the association between dai ly stressors and somatic symptoms was significantly stronger for patients w ith RAP than for well children. In contrast, the relation between daily str essors and negative affect did not differ between the groups. The relation between daily stressors and somatic symptoms was stronger for patients with RAP who had higher levels of trait negative affectivity.