Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Cross-sectional time trends in psychological and somatic health complaints among adolescents: a structural equation modelling analysis of ‘Health Behaviour in School-aged Children’ data from Switzerland

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study examined cross-sectional time trends in health complaints among adolescents living in Switzerland, including differences between population subgroups and sources of differential response to items.

Methods

Swiss data were analysed from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC; including 11–15 years old) from 1994 (n = 7008), 1998 (n = 8296), 2002 (n = 9066) and 2006 (n = 9255). Structural equation modelling was used to assess (1) the structure of the HBSC Symptom Checklist (HBSC-SCL; questionnaire, which asks about the frequency of eight health complaints) and (2) associations between the HBSC-SCL with year of data collection and demographic characteristics of the participants.

Results

Two correlated factors fitted the data better than a single factor. The psychological factor included the items ‘feeling low,’ ‘irritability and bad temper,’ ‘nervousness’ and ‘difficulties in getting to sleep,’ and the somatic factor the items ‘headache’, ‘backache’, ‘stomach ache’ and ‘dizziness’. Relative to 1994, lower levels of psychological health complaints were experienced in 1998, 2002 and 2006. However, the changes were only minor. In contrast, somatic health complaints increased monotonically over the years of the survey. Experiencing psychological and somatic health complaints was more pronounced with age among females relative to males and was associated with living in particular language regions of Switzerland.

Conclusions

Different cross-sectional time trends were identified for the psychological and somatic latent variables, indicating that both factors should be investigated when studying period effects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bor W, Dean A, Najman J, Hayatbakhsh R (2014) Are child and adolescent mental health problems increasing in the 21st century? A systematic review. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 48(7):606–616

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Hagquist C (2010) Discrepant trends in mental health complaints among younger and older adolescents in Sweden: an analysis of WHO data 1985-2005. J Adolesc Health 46(3):258–264. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.07.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Currie C, Nic Gabhainn S, Godeau E (2009) The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: WHO collaborative cross-national (HBSC) study: origins, concept, history and development 1982-2008. Int J Public Health 54(Suppl 2):131–139. doi:10.1007/s00038-009-5404-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Roberts C, Freeman J, Samdal O, Schnohr CW, de Looze ME, Gabhainn SN, Iannotti R, Rasmussen M, Grp IHS (2009) The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: methodological developments and current tensions. Int J Public Health 54:140–150. doi:10.1007/S00038-009-5405-9

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Haugland S, Wold B, Stevenson J, Aaroe LE, Woynarowska B (2001) Subjective health complaints in adolescence—a cross-national comparison of prevalence and dimensionality. E J Public Health 11(1):4–10. doi:10.1093/eurpub/11.1.4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hetland J, Torsheim T, Aaro LE (2002) Subjective health complaints in adolescence: dimensional structure and variation across gender and age. Scand J Public Health 30(3):223–230. doi:10.1080/140349402320290953

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Dür W, Griebler R, Flaschberger E, Felder-Puig R (2011) Gesundheitliche Beschwerden österreichischer Jugendlicher—Ergebnisse der HBSC-Studie 1994 bis 2006. Wien Med Wochenschr 161(7–8):174–179. doi:10.1007/s10354-010-0854-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Holstein B, Andersen A, Due P, Hansen EH (2009) Children’s and adolescent’s use of medicine for aches and psychological problems: secular trends from 1988 to 2006. Ugeskr Laeger 171(1–2):24–28

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Ottova V, Hillebrandt D, Ravens-Sieberer U, Deutschland H-T (2012) Trends in subjective health and well-being of children and adolescents in Germany: results of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study 2002 to 2010. Gesundheitswesen 74:S15–S24. doi:10.1055/S-0032-1312640

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pallesen S, Hetland J, Sivertsen B, Samdal O, Torsheim T, Nordhus IH (2008) Time trends in sleep-onset difficulties among Norwegian adolescents: 1983-2005. Scand J Public Health 36(8):889–895. doi:10.1177/1403494808095953

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Levin KA, Currie C, Muldoon J (2009) Mental well-being and subjective health of 11- to 15-year-old boys and girls in Scotland, 1994-2006. Eur J Public Health 19(6):605–610. doi:10.1093/Eurpub/Ckp046

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Ravens-Sieberer U, Erhart M, Torsheim T, Hetland J, Freeman J, Danielson M, Thomas C (2008) An international scoring system for self-reported health complaints in adolescents. Eur J Public Health 18(3):294–299. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckn001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Christensen H, Jorm AF, Mackinnon AJ, Korten AE, Jacomb PA, Henderson AS, Rodgers B (1999) Age differences in depression and anxiety symptoms: a structural equation modelling analysis of data from a general population sample. Psychol Med 29(2):325–339

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Le Gauffey Y (1994) Das Gesundheitsverhalten Schweizer Schüler. Distributed by FORS, Lausanne, 2002. Schweizerische Fachstelle für Alkohol-und andere Drogenprobleme-SFA, Case postale 870, 1001 Lausanne

  15. Janin Jacquat B (1998) Das Gesundheitsverhalten Schweizer Schüler. Distributed by FORS, Lausanne, 2002. Schweizerische Fachstelle für Alkohol-und andere Drogenprobleme-SFA, Case postale 870, 1001 Lausanne

  16. Schmid H (2002) Das Gesundheitsverhalten Schweizer Schüler. Distributed by FORS, Lausanne, 2002. Schweizerische Fachstelle für Alkohol-und andere Drogenprobleme-SFA, Case postale 870, 1001 Lausanne

  17. Schmid H, Delgrande Jordan M (2006) Das Gesundheitsverhalten Schweizer Schüler. Distributed by FORS, Lausanne, 2002. Schweizerische Fachstelle für Alkohol-und andere Drogenprobleme-SFA, Case postale 870, 1001 Lausanne

  18. Haugland S, Wold B (2001) Subjective health complaints in adolescence-reliability and validity of survey methods. J Adolesc 24(5):611–624. doi:10.1006/jado.2000.0393

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Arbuckle JL (2013) Amos (Version 22). SPSS, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  20. Cavallo F, Zambon A, Borraccino A, Raven-Sieberer U, Torsheim T, Lemma P (2006) Girls growing through adolescence have a higher risk of poor health. Qual Life Res 15(10):1577–1585. doi:10.1007/s11136-006-0037-5

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Torsheim T, Ravens-Sieberer U, Hetland J, Valimaa R, Danielson M, Overpeck M (2006) Cross-national variation of gender differences in adolescent subjective health in Europe and North America. Soc Sci Med 62(4):815–827. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.047

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Blunch NJ (2011) Introduction to structural equation modelling using SPSS and AMOS. SAGE Publications Ltd, London

    Google Scholar 

  23. Bentler PM (1990) Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychol Bull 107(2):238–246. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Tucker LR, Lewis C (1973) A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika 38:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Brown MW, Cudeck R (1992) Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociol Methods Res 21:230–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Jöreskog KG, Sörbom D (1996) LISREL 8: User’s reference guide. Chicago

  27. Bellini B, Arruda M, Cescut A, Saulle C, Persico A, Carotenuto M, Gatta M, Nacinovich R, Piazza FP, Termine C, Tozzi E, Lucchese F, Guidetti V (2013) Headache and comorbidity in children and adolescents. J Headache Pain 14:79. doi:10.1186/1129-2377-14-79

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Campo JV (2012) Annual research review: functional somatic symptoms and associated anxiety and depression - developmental psychopathology in pediatric practice. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 53(5):575–592. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02535.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. MacLean A, Sweeting H, Hunt K (2010) ‘Rules’ for boys, ‘guidelines’ for girls: gender differences in symptom reporting during childhood and adolescence. Soc Sci Med 70(4):597–604. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.042

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Nelson MC, Neumark-Sztainer D, Hannan PJ, Sirard JR, Story M (2006) Longitudinal and secular trends in physical activity and sedentary behavior during adolescence. Pediatrics 118(6):E1627–E1634. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0926

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Torsheim T, Eriksson L, Schnohr CW, Hansen F, Bjarnason T, Valimaa R (2010) Screen-based activities and physical complaints among adolescents from the Nordic countries. BMC Public Health. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-324

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Benjet CB, Hernandez-Guzman L (2002) A short-term longitudinal study of pubertal change, gender, and psychological well-being of Mexican early adolescents. J Youth Adolesc 31(6):429–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Holstein BE, Currie C, Boyce W, Damsgaard MT, Gobina I, Kokonyei G, Hetland J, de Looze M, Richter M, Due P, Grp HSIF (2009) Socio-economic inequality in multiple health complaints among adolescents: international comparative study in 37 countries. Int J Public Health 54:260–270. doi:10.1007/s00038-009-5418-4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Torsheim T, Wold B (2001) School-related stress, school support, and somatic complaints: a general population study. J Adolescent Res 16(3):293–303. doi:10.1177/0743558401163003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Dey M, Gmel G, Mohler-Kuo M (2013) Body mass index and health-related quality of life among young Swiss men. BMC Public Health 13:1028. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-1028

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge all the people who were responsible for the HBSC surveys conducted in Switzerland: Yann Le Gauffey in 1994 [14], Béatrice Janin Jacquat in 1998 [15], Holger Schmid in 2002 and 2006 [16, 17] and Marina Delgrande Jordan in 2006 [17]. We would also like to thank Charlotte Eidenbenz, Natalia Estévez and Ivan Lamorte for their valuable evaluation regarding language differences in items of the HBSC-SCL and Stefan Cvetkovski for his methodological input. Michelle Dey is supported by a fellowship (P2ZHP1_148710) from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Michelle Dey & Anthony F. Jorm

  2. Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, 35 Popular Road, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia

    Andrew J. Mackinnon

Authors
  1. Michelle Dey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anthony F. Jorm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew J. Mackinnon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle Dey.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dey, M., Jorm, A.F. & Mackinnon, A.J. Cross-sectional time trends in psychological and somatic health complaints among adolescents: a structural equation modelling analysis of ‘Health Behaviour in School-aged Children’ data from Switzerland. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 50, 1189–1198 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-015-1040-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-015-1040-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation