Early-Life Somatic Complaints: Longitudinal Associations with Maternal and Child Psychopathology.
Melissa L Engel, Dominika A Winiarski, Brooke L Reidy and 1 others
PMID 29905621WHAT IT FOUND
Preschool somatic complaints continued into school age and were linked to more anxiety and depression symptoms in a high-risk sample of mother-child pairs.
Child sex did not change the anxiety link.
Key findings
01Preschool somatic complaints predicted somatic complaints at school age and also predicted school-age anxiety and depression after accounting for earlier anxiety and depression.
02Mothers' total number of lifetime mental health diagnoses predicted maternal-reported child somatic complaints at both time points, while maternal anxiety predicted school-age complaints and maternal depression predicted persistent complaints; secondary caregiver reports did not show these associations.
03Child sex did not change the association between early somatic complaints and later anxiety, and school-age somatic complaint levels did not differ by sex.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample was mostly Caucasian, married, highly educated mothers with ready access to mental health care, so results may not apply to more diverse groups. Mothers lost to follow-up were less educated than those retained, so the final sample may not represent all families. Secondary caregiver reports were fewer, and the same child might have a different caregiver at preschool and school age. The preschool somatic complaints scale had low internal consistency (alphas .48 and .40), so it may not have measured the same thing reliably. No physical health histories or medical diagnoses were collected, so it is unclear whether some complaints had medical causes. The group with persistent somatic complaints was small (46 children). The study did not test treatment, so it cannot show what intervention would help.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest or financial relationships relevant to the article. The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that treating a child's somatic complaints will reduce later anxiety or depression. The study observed associations over time and did not test any treatment.