Life stress and somatic symptoms among adolescents: Gender as moderator

Objective: to study the impact of life stress on somatic symptoms of adolescents and to explore the moderating role of gender. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted from september to december 2014 at secondary schools located in islamabad,pakistan. data was collected by administering self-reported measures on a sample of adolescents including both males and females. spss 21 was used for data analysis. results: of the 663 participants,228(34.4%) were girls and 435(65.6%) were boys. the overall mean age was 15.27±1.20 years (range: 12-16 years). there was a significant positive correlation between the experience of life stress and somatic symptoms among adolescents (p<0.01). the prevalence of somatic symptoms was 431(65.10%) among the adolescents who experienced school-related stressors. gender was a significant moderator and the interaction effect of gender and life stress was significant (p<0.05). female adolescents had higher level of life stress and experienced more somatic symptoms compared to male adolescents (p<0.05). conclusion: life stress was found to be an important indicator of somatic complaints in adolescents,with greater risk for girls as compared to boys. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.