The role of perceived well-being in the family, school and peer context in adolescents’ subjective health complaints: evidence from a Greek cross-sectional study

BioPsychoSocial Medicine

Dimitra Petanidou²  Evangelie Daskagianni³  Christine Dimitrakaki²  Gerasimos Kolaitis¹  Yannis Tountas² 

[1] Department of Child Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, Greece. Thivon and Papadiamantopoulou, Athens 11527, Greece

[2] Centre for Health Services Research, Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Athens University Medical School, 25 Alexandroupoleos str., Athens 11527, Greece

[3] Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, 25 Alexandroupoleos str., Athens 11527, Greece

关键词: Subjective economic status;    Subjective perceptions;    Psychosomatic health;    Well-being;    Peers;    School;    Family;    Adolescence;    Subjective Health Complaints (SHC);   

Others  :  1082340
DOI  :  10.1186/1751-0759-7-17

 received in 2013-07-27, accepted in 2013-11-21,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

During adolescence children are usually confronted with an expanding social arena. Apart from families, schools and neighbourhoods, peers, classmates, teachers, and other adult figures gain increasing importance for adolescent socio-emotional adjustment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which Greek adolescents’ perceived well-being in three main social contexts (family, school and peers) predicted self-reported Subjective Health Complaints.

Methods

Questionnaires were administered to a Greek nation-wide, random, school-based sample of children aged 12–18 years in 2003. Data from 1.087 adolescents were analyzed. A hierarchical regression model with Subjective Health Complaints as the outcome variable was employed in order to i) control for the effects of previously well-established demographic factors (sex, age and subjective economic status) and ii) to identify the unique proportion of variance attributed to each context. Bivariate correlations and multicollinearity were also explored.

Results

As hypothesized, adolescents’ perceived well-being in each of the three social contexts appeared to hold unique proportions of variance in self-reported Subjective Health Complaints, after controlling for the effects of sex, age and subjective economic status. In addition, our final model confirmed that the explained variance in SHC was accumulated from each social context studied. The regression models were statistically significant and explained a total of approximately 24% of the variance in Subjective Health Complaints.

Conclusions

Our study delineated the unique and cumulative contributions of adolescents’ perceived well-being in the family, school and peer setting in the explanation of Subjective Health Complaints. Apart from families, schools, teachers and peers appear to have a salient role in adolescent psychosomatic adjustment. A thorough understanding of the relationship between adolescents’ Subjective Health Complaints and perceived well-being in their social contexts could not only lead to more effective tailored initiatives, but also to promote a multi- and inter-disciplinary culture in adolescent psychosomatic health.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Petanidou et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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