Perseverative thoughts and subjective health complaints in adolescence: Mediating effects of perceived stress and negative affects

Abstract

Stable tendency to perseverative thoughts such as trait rumination and worry can influence somatic health. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between perseverative thoughts and somatic complaints, and the possible mediating effects of perceived stress, negative and positive affectivity in adolescence. Having an acute or a chronic condition was also assessed to be controlled for and to reveal their effects on symptom reporting. Three hundred and six adolescents from 7th to 12th grade with mean age of 16.33 (SD = 1.29) participated in the study. Mediation analysis suggested that impact of trait-like perseverative thoughts on complaints were mediated by perceived stress and negative affectivity. Having an acute condition had also an effect on symptom reporting through increased negative affectivity. Our results highlight that ruminations or worry as stable intrapersonal characteristics are relevant processes in health and can be potential targets in prevention programmes in adolescence.

Predicting Adolescent Adjustment and Well-Being: The Interplay between Socio-Emotional and Personal Factors

“…More specifically, both regression and fsQCA analyses show that girls tend to present more emotional symptoms than boys. These findings are in line with previous studies, which indicated that girls may have more persistent thoughts or worries and therefore internalise more emotional symptoms [45]. In behavioural problems, sex seems to have some influence, but to a lesser extent than emotional symptoms.…”

“…In addition to these socio-emotional protective factors, there are also personal characteristics that may affect adolescent adjustment and well-being, such as sex and age. As regards psychological adjustment, boys present more behavioural problems [44]; whereas girls tend to experience more emotional symptoms [45]. In terms of age, young people before puberty (pre-adolescents) adjust more easily to internal and external changes than adolescents [46,47].…”

“…To our knowledge, there are few studies that integrate both perspectives in order to simultaneously determine potential risk and protection factors for psychological adjustment and subjective well-being. Furthermore, personal characteristics such as sex and age have been widely studied to determine their influence on well-being, and health outcomes have been firmly established [45,48]. However, the study of other personal factors such as the number of siblings has been limited [51].…”

Fortaleza psicológica adolescente: relación con la inteligencia emocional y los valores

“…Con todo ello, estos resultados refuerzan estudios anteriores que informan que los jóvenes con alta autoestima muestran mayor adaptación a eventos vitales estresantes (Kocayörük y Şimşek, 2016;Thompson et al, 2016); aquellos con baja autoestima presentan mayor riesgo en su salud mental y bienestar emocional (von Soest, Wichstrøm y Kvalem, 2016), siendo determinante del desajuste psicológico en los adolescentes (Keane y Loades, 2016;Reina y Oliva, 2015;Schoeps et al, 2019). La valoración que cada uno hace de sí mismo, junto con las habilidades de percepción, comprensión y regulación emocional reduce los síntomas emocionales y las conductas disfuncionales, ayudando en la adaptación a nivel físico y psicológica de la adolescencia (Bleidorn et al, 2016;Carlo et al, 2014;Kökönyei et al, 2015).…”

“…Es esencial ante los problemas y desafíos que las personas enfrentan en la vida, y desempeña un rol importante en el afrontamiento de situaciones estresantes, actuando como un almacén de sentimientos positivos (Rosenberg y Owens, 2001). Se han evidenciado los beneficios del desarrollo de las habilidades emocionales y de la autoestima en la prevención del desajuste psicológico de los adolescentes (Bleidorn et al, 2016;Carlo et al, 2014;Kökönyei et al, 2015;Reina y Oliva, 2015;Schoeps, Tamarit, González y Montoya-Castilla, 2019), identificándola como variable mediadora y explicativa del impacto de variables socioemocionales en dicho ajuste, lo que justifica su inclusión en estudios presentes y futuros (Kocayörük y Simsek, 2016;Thompson, Wojciak y Cooley, 2016).…”