Somatization symptoms—prevalence and risk, stress and resilience factors among medical and dental students at a mid-sized German university

Abstract

Objective

Previous studies have shown that an increased prevalence of mental illness can be found among medical and dental students. Among these, somatization symptoms are severely understudied. The present study examined the prevalence of somatization symptoms in a subpopulation of medical and dental students and aimed at finding associated risk and resilience factors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-reporting questionnaire, including the SOMS-2, the Becks-Depression-Inventory-II (BDI-II), the NEO-Five-Factor-Inventory, and a questionnaire on socio-demographics for possible risk and resilience factors. A total of 271 medical and dental students of a mid-sized German university completed the questionnaire.

Results

The Somatization index yielded a mean of 9.12 symptoms for the total sample, which is 1.2 SD higher than the reported norm. A total of 50.7% of the medical students and 63.6% of the dental students transcend a critical somatization score. Significant positive associations for eight general risk factors, four university related stress factors, and a significant negative association for seven resilience factors were found.

Conclusion

Medical and even more dental students at the studied university showed a high burden of somatoform complaints. Also, factors were found that could be of etiological relevance and others that could be used to enhance resilience. Both could present an opportunity for the prevention of somatization disorders but prospective and multicenter studies with an aged-matched comparison group are needed to obtain a more accurate overview.