SOMATIC SIMPTOMS: DIFERENTIAL PREDICTION BY PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIODEMOGRAFIC VARIABLES, LIVE´S STYLE AND DISEASES

Abstract

Traditionally, somatic symptoms have been considered a variable associated to health and to a topic in illness behaviour. According to its origin, there are multiple factors in which psychological features constitute the main role. In this work, we study the answers of 501 subjects who are between 40 and 65 years old, to predict somatic symptoms by psychologi-cal variables (personality dimensions, Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck’s types of stress reactions, vital events, coping styles, attributional styles, health beliefs, social support and personal competence), sociodemografical variables, life styles and health problems. In regressions about the different symptoms scales, we find an average of 25.9% of explicated variance, with a maximum of 37.6% for breathing symptoms and 14.4% for gastrointestinals symptoms. About this percentage, 16.8% (64.9% of the explicated variance) is due to psychological variables, 2.8% (11.00% of the explicated variance) to life’s styles and sociodemographic variables, and 6.2% (24.1% of the explicated variance) to health problems. The role of the Grossarth-Maticek & Eysenck’s types is much more limited as it has been investigated in previous researches about this theme.