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Background: Psychosomatic symptoms—clinical manifestations without a clear pathological origin—have a high prevalence in adolescents. However, most studies are oriented towards the search for risk factors and very few have approached the subject by examining which elements may be protective. The objective of this current work was to identify whether there is an association between the presence of psychosomatic symptoms and the capacity for resilience in adolescents. Methods: This was an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, and multicenter study carried out at five different schools in Cuenca (Spain). The sample comprised 844 adolescents aged 15 to 18 years who were in the 3rd or 4th years of compulsory secondary education or the 1st or 2nd years of the baccalaureate. At each academic level, groups were randomly selected for administration of the Psychosomatic Problems Scale and 10-Item Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (to determine psychosomatic symptoms and resilience, respectively); sociodemographic data were also recorded.Results: Girls overall, and adolescents aged 17–18 years, presented significantly higher psychosomatic symptoms. Being more resilient was negatively correlated with all the psychosomatic symptoms. The strongest correlation was between ‘felt sad’ and ‘concentrating difficulties’ and the multivariate analysis, which controlled for sex and age, predicted fewer psychosomatic symptoms among the most resilient individuals. Conclusions: Psychosomatic symptoms are frequently observed in the adolescent population and are often expressions that make emotional distress visible. The capacity for resilience positively affected emotional well-being and reduced the risk of presenting psychosomatic symptoms in our study population. |
