Background: Health promotion and disease prevention among adolescents should include efforts to reduce the burden of health complaints. In order to develop systematic preventive approaches, epidemiological research is needed. This study focuses on prevalence, gender differences, and intercorrelations among such complaints.
Material and methods: The data were drawn from a nationwide (Norwegian) survey among pupils in compulsory school grades 6, 8, and 10 (age 11, 13, and 15); response rate 79%.
Results: Among 15-year-olds, most health complaints were more prevalent among girls than among boys. A principal components analysis revealed a dimension from primarily psychological to primarily somatic complaints. Among 15-year-olds, 18% reported at least one daily psychological complaint and 14% reported at least one daily somatic complaint. Sum-scores for psychological and somatic complaints were constructed, the intercorrelation being 0.56 among 15-year-olds. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on both sum-scores. Among girls there was a marked increase in scores with age (particularly for somatic complaints).
Interpretation: The high prevalence of complaints among both genders and the increase with age among girls implies that preventive action is needed. The intercorrelations among complaints indicate common etiological processes.