ILLNESS BEHAVIOR AND SOMATIZATION IN CHILDREN

该项目的重点是疾病行为和躯体化， 儿童和青少年，即的发展 与医疗条件不成比例的残疾 条件 本研究是在以下背景下概念化的： 家庭健康和疾病行为。 学习识别和 对身体感觉作出适当的反应被视为正常 儿童发展和躯体化的过程被认为是一个 在正常行为的连续体上极端。 该研究基于一个概念模型， 儿童和家庭因素与发展和 维持过度的躯体抱怨和残疾。 的 第一个具体目标是使用以下患者群体来测试该模型： 纵向设计的背景，随着时间的推移， 儿科疾病/残疾的水平和性质 无明确器质性原因的复发性腹痛患者 病因学 将使用几个比较组进行测试， 模型的特异性，即，它在区分 健康儿童的功能性躯体主诉 以及那些患有可识别的器质性疾病或情感疾病的人， 紊乱 特定成分的发育差异 以及该模型的整体实用性也将被检验。 第二个具体目标是通过三个实验来检查 研究，连接模型组件的过程。 这些 研究将测试以下主要假设：（a）儿童的 报告将增加，身体表现将 在鼓励儿童监控的条件下减少 内部身体感觉，（B）父母对自己的感知 身体状况会影响他们对孩子的 身体线索作为疾病的指示，和（c）在条件下 儿童会报告身体症状 和疲劳的父母谁以前加强了他们的疾病 行为

This project focuses on illness behavior and somatization in children and adolescents, i.e., the development of symptomatology and disability disproportionate to the medical condition. The research is conceptualized within the context of family health and illness behavior. Learning to recognize and respond appropriately to bodily sensations is viewed as a normal process in child development and somatization is viewed as an extreme on a continuum of normal behavior. The research is grounded in a conceptual model that identifies child and family factors associated with the development and maintenance of excessive somatic complaints and disability. The first specific aim is to test the model using a patient population in the context of a longitudinal design that traces over time the level and nature of symptomatology/disability in pediatric patients with recurrent abdominal pain of no identifiable organic etiology. Several comparison groups will be used in order to test the specificity of the model, i.e., its utility in distinguishing children with functional somatic complaints from well children and from those with identifiable organic disease or emotional disorders. Developmental differences in the specific components and overall utility of the model also will be examined. The second specific aim is to examine, via three experimental studies, the processes linking the model components. These studies will test the following major hypotheses: (a) a child's symptom-reporting will increase and physical performance will decrease under conditions that encourage the child to monitor internal bodily sensations, (b) parents' perceptions of their own bodily states will influence their interpretation of children's bodily cues as being indicative of illness, and (c) under conditions of physiological arousal children will report physical symptoms and fatigue to a parent who has previously reinforced their illness behavior.