Determinants of Somatic Complaints in 18-month-old Children: The Generation R Study

Objective To investigate the effect of child temperament, maternal psychologic symptoms, maternal chronic pain, and parenting stress on children's somatic complaints. Methods The study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based cohort study. Child somatic complaints were assessed via mother-report in 5,171 children of 18 months of age. Questionnaires assessed maternal somatic symptoms, symptoms of depression, anxiety during pregnancy and 2 months after delivery, maternal chronic pain during pregnancy, parenting stress 18 months after birth, and mother-reported child temperament 6 months after birth, as the determinants. Results Fearful temperament, temperamental falling reactivity, maternal somatic symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and parenting stress each independently and prospectively increased the likelihood of children's somatic complaints at 18 months of age. Conclusions In toddlers, temperament, maternal stress, and maternal somatic symptoms seem particularly important for the development of somatic complaints, but long-term research is needed to establish causality and predictive value of these factors.