Leiden University Student Repository

de Bruijn, Irene (2023)

Jongeren met jeugdtrauma: Somatoforme klachten en mentaal welzijn tijdens de COVID-19 pandemie in beeld

Master thesis | Education and Child Studies (MSc)

The aim of this article is to investigate what role mental wellbeing plays in the experienced somatoform symptoms in adolescents who experienced childhood adversity, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it is investigated if changes in mental wellbeing between two timepoints during the pandemic are related to changes in somatoform symptoms during COVID-19 in adolescents who experienced childhood adversity. Also, exploratory analyses were run to investigate whether mental wellbeing at the first time point could predict changes in somatoform symptoms over time and vice versa. Longitudinal measures from seventy-six adolescents are used across two timepoints: during the first peak in the pandemic (April 2020) and when the restrictions were less stringent (July 2020). The results show that there is an association between the experienced somatoform symptoms and mental wellbeing. This association is also found between the change in mental wellbeing over time and the change in...Show moreThe aim of this article is to investigate what role mental wellbeing plays in the experienced somatoform symptoms in adolescents who experienced childhood adversity, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it is investigated if changes in mental wellbeing between two timepoints during the pandemic are related to changes in somatoform symptoms during COVID-19 in adolescents who experienced childhood adversity. Also, exploratory analyses were run to investigate whether mental wellbeing at the first time point could predict changes in somatoform symptoms over time and vice versa. Longitudinal measures from seventy-six adolescents are used across two timepoints: during the first peak in the pandemic (April 2020) and when the restrictions were less stringent (July 2020). The results show that there is an association between the experienced somatoform symptoms and mental wellbeing. This association is also found between the change in mental wellbeing over time and the change in somatoform symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also clear that both mental wellbeing and somatoform symptoms during the first peak of the SARS-CoV-2-virus have no predictive value for the change in mental wellbeing or somatoform symptoms over time. This research contributes to the existing body of literature with the discovery that mental wellbeing and somatoform symptoms are associated during COVID-19 in adolescents who experienced childhood adversity. Although the association is clear in this research, it is recommended to extend the research design by including multiple, possibly contributing factors, such as loneliness, stress, gender, type, severity and duration of the experienced childhood adversity, to investigate the underlying mechanism. Secondly, it is recommended to investigate the effectiveness of interventions which adequately support adolescents who experienced childhood adversity and experience somatoform symptoms, for example the ‘Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’-intervention.Show less

Somatoforme klachten

mentaal welzijn

jeugdtrauma

covid-19

Author

de Bruijn, Irene

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Forensische gezinspedagogiek

Supervisors

van Harmelen, A. + Buimer, E. E. L.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

nl