[Application of the "Somatization Index" to a sample of soldiers in obligatory military service. Validation study]

One hundred and eighteen clinical records of soldiers attending the Psychological Unit of the Ospedale Militare "A. Riberi" in Turin were included in the study. Records assessed according to the "Somatization Index" and the scores obtained were analysed using statistical methods (t test) according to the following parameters: geographical origin of the family (North/South); place of residence (southern Italians resident in the South/southern Italians resident in the North, and rural/urban environment); educational level (5th class in primary school/upper secondary school). A substantial overlapping was observed between the groups studied. Various hypotheses can be put forward: 1) the index is not capable of distinguishing between expressiveness in psychic terms and expressiveness in somatic terms in relation to the patient's psychosocial malaise; 2) the results of the index are valid and may be interpreted in the following ways: a) the Italian population is homogeneous with regard to the modes of expressing and communicating psychosocial malaise; b) the results obtained are influenced by the excessive homogeneity of the sample studied in terms of age; c) the results obtained are biased by the strong reactive nature of the soldier's psychological problems with respect to Military Service: the reaction has characteristics of immediacy and should therefore be interpreted as a maladjustment which is experienced and expressed in a psychic context; d) the results are influenced by the name of the place of study ("psychological unit") and by the "civil" appearance of its workers.