Health complaints in late adolescence; Frequency, factor structure and the association with socio-economic status

Little is known about social disparities in health in late adolescence. Among boys and girls aged 17-19, we aimed to (1) describe frequency of health complaints, (2) investigate the factor structure of health complaints and (3) examine the association between health complaints and socio-economic status (SES).

Data from the large population-based youth@hordaland survey ( n=10,253) were used. Health complaints were assessed by five items from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Symptoms Checklist, SES by parental education and perceived family economy. Associations between health complaints and SES were investigated using analysis of variance, and the factor structure of health complaints using confirmatory factor analyses.

At least one weekly complaint was reported by 47% of girls and 21% of boys. The items showed a good fit to a simple one-factor model when back pain and neck/shoulder pain were allowed to correlate. Health complaints were more frequent among adolescents reporting poor perceived family economy and lower parental education.

Our results suggest that health complaints are common in adolescence and might, as in adults, be part of everyday life. Health complaints are more frequent among adolescents from families with lower SES.