Stressful life events and somatic complaints in adolescents

Although life stress has often been associated with recurrent pain in children and adolescents, level of stress has not previously been found useful in differentiating patients with functional pain from those in whom other conditions are diagnosed. In this study, a standard measure of stressful life events was systematically administered to 172 adolescents seen for the first time at an outpatient adolescent clinic. Patients with recurrent pain for which no organic etiology could be identified reported significantly higher life stress than patients being seen for routine checkup, acute minor illness, stable chronic illness, or pain with clinically diagnosed organic cause. Furthermore, patients referred for behavior problems indicated significantly higher life stress than all other patient groups. It is suggested that a measure of stressful life events may be a useful adjunct to the clinical interview and is of particular value in identifying specific stressors and planning treatment to address them.