Stigmatization and psychosomatic symptoms in adolescents

Abstract

Mnoga istraživanja pokazala su kontradiktorne rezultate kada se uzmu u obzir stigmatizacija, samopoštovanje te tjelesni, odnosno psihosomatski simptomi. Stoga je cilj ovog istraživanja bio ispitati odnos stigmatizacije na temelju tjelesne težine, samopoštovanja te razine psihosomatskih simptoma kod adolescenata. Cilj je, također, bio ispitati posreduje li samopoštovanje odnos između stigmatizacije na temelju tjelesne težine i psihosomatskih simptoma. Ukupno 394 učenika srednjih škola u Osijeku i Požegi ispunilo je mjere doživljaja stigmatizacije na temelju tjelesne težine, samopoštovanja i psihosomatskih simptoma. Rezultati su pokazali da su doživljaj stigmatizacije na temelju tjelesne težine i samopoštovanje značajni prediktori psihosomatskih simptoma. To znači da adolescenti koji češće doživljavaju stigmatizaciju na temelju tjelesne težine i imaju nisko samopoštovanje imaju i značajno više psihosomatskih simptoma. Medijacijskom je analizom nadalje utvrđeno kako samopoštovanje značajno posreduje u odnosu doživljaja stigmatizacije na temelju tjelesne težine i razina psihosomatskih simptoma kod adolescenata. Povećanjem doživljaja stigmatizacije na temelju tjelesne težine od strane vršnjaka rastu i razine psihosomatskih simptoma kod adolescenata, no samopoštovanje u potpunosti posreduje u tom odnosu.Many studies have shown contradicting results regarding the relationship between stigmatisation, self-esteem, and physical, i.e. psychosomatic symptoms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between weight based stigmatisation, self-esteem and the levels of psychosomatic symptoms in adolescents. Another aim was to examine whether self-esteem mediates the relationship between weight based stigmatisation and psychosomatic symptoms. A total of 394 highschool students were administered measures of self-esteem and subjective health complaints, as well as the weight based stigmatisation experience survey. Results showed that weight based stigmatisation experiences and self-esteem levels significantly predict psychosomatic symptoms. That means that adolescents with more frequent experiences of weight based stigmatisation and with lower self-esteem also experience significantly more psychosomatic symptoms. Furthermore, a mediation analysis showed that self-esteem completely mediates the relationship between weight based stigmatisation and the levels of psychosomatic symptoms. With increased experiences of weight based stigmatisation by their peers, adolescents also experience more psychosomatic symptoms, but self-esteem completely mediates this relationship