Étude longitudinale du lien prédictif entre les événements de vie négatifs et les symptômes somatiques à l’adolescence : le rôle modérateur des traits de personnalité
Although previous studies showed that negative life events predict somatic symptoms, the nature of the relationship needs to be better understood, especially for adolescents.  Consequently, the goal of this longitudinal study was to evaluate if negative life events in middle adolescence predict somatic symptoms two years later, after controlling for initial somatic symptoms and other known risk factors of somatic symptoms.  The study also tested whether personality traits moderated this predictive relationship.  The sample consisted of 1036 adolescents from seven high schools from the metropolitan areas of Montreal and Quebec City.  Data were collected at two times points using self-reported questionnaires; the first in the third year of high school (age 14 and 15) and the second in the fifth year (age 16 and 17).  Multiple regression analyses did not confirm that negative life events during adolescence predict somatic symptoms two years later.  A significant negative relation was observed only when initial somatic symptoms and other variables known as risk factors of somatic symptoms were controlled for.  The relationship was not in the expected direction; the higher an adolescent is exposed to negative life events in third year of high school, the least he tends to report somatic symptoms two years later.  Furthermore, certain personality traits such as Emotional stability and Openness predict somatic symptoms two years later. In fact, Emotional stability predicts less somatic symptoms, while Openness predicts more somatic symptoms two years later.  As expected, somatic symptoms show high stability across two years and girls tend to report more such symptoms.  Adolescents with living in family with low socioeconomic status are also more at risk of reporting subsequent somatic symptoms.  Finally, none of the tested interactions were significant.  Thus, personality traits do not seem to act as either protection factors or vulnerability factors of the relationship between negative life events and somatic symptoms.
Adolescence Somatic symptoms Negative life events Personality traits Risk factors Adolescence Longitudinal study