TY - JOUR
T1 - High Perceived Stress and Low Self-Efficacy are Associated with Functional Somatic Disorders
T2 - The DanFunD Study
AU - Petersen, Marie Weinreich
AU - Carstensen, Tina Birgitte Wisbech
AU - Frostholm, Lisbeth
AU - Wellnitz, Kaare Bro
AU - Ørnbøl, Eva
AU - Jørgensen, Torben
AU - Eplov, Lene Falgaard
AU - Dantoft, Thomas Meinertz
AU - Fink, Per
N1 - © 2023 Petersen et al.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - OBJECTIVE: Several psychological factors have been proposed to be associated with functional somatic disorders (FSD) including functional somatic syndromes, such as irritable bowel, chronic widespread pain, and chronic fatigue. However, large randomly selected population-based studies of this association are sparse. This study aimed to investigate the association between FSD and perceived stress and self-efficacy, respectively, and to investigate if FSD differed from severe physical diseases on these aspects.METHODS: This cross-sectional study included a random sample of the adult Danish population (n = 9656). FSD were established using self-reported questionnaires and diagnostic interviews. Perceived stress was measured with Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale and self-efficacy with the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Data were analysed with generalized linear models and linear regression models.RESULTS: FSD were associated with higher perceived stress and lower self-efficacy, especially for the multi-organ and the general symptoms/fatigue FSD types and for chronic fatigue. However, controlling for the personality trait neuroticism altered the associations with self-efficacy so it became insignificant. The analysis did not support an important interaction between perceived stress and self-efficacy on the likelihood of having FSD. Individuals with FSD presented levels of perceived stress that were not equal, ie higher, to those in individuals with severe physical diseases.CONCLUSION: FSD were positively associated with perceived stress and negatively associated with self-efficacy. Our study may point to stress being part of the symptomatology of FSD. This underlines the severity of having FSD and stresses the relevance of the resilience theory in the understanding of the condition.
AB - OBJECTIVE: Several psychological factors have been proposed to be associated with functional somatic disorders (FSD) including functional somatic syndromes, such as irritable bowel, chronic widespread pain, and chronic fatigue. However, large randomly selected population-based studies of this association are sparse. This study aimed to investigate the association between FSD and perceived stress and self-efficacy, respectively, and to investigate if FSD differed from severe physical diseases on these aspects.METHODS: This cross-sectional study included a random sample of the adult Danish population (n = 9656). FSD were established using self-reported questionnaires and diagnostic interviews. Perceived stress was measured with Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale and self-efficacy with the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Data were analysed with generalized linear models and linear regression models.RESULTS: FSD were associated with higher perceived stress and lower self-efficacy, especially for the multi-organ and the general symptoms/fatigue FSD types and for chronic fatigue. However, controlling for the personality trait neuroticism altered the associations with self-efficacy so it became insignificant. The analysis did not support an important interaction between perceived stress and self-efficacy on the likelihood of having FSD. Individuals with FSD presented levels of perceived stress that were not equal, ie higher, to those in individuals with severe physical diseases.CONCLUSION: FSD were positively associated with perceived stress and negatively associated with self-efficacy. Our study may point to stress being part of the symptomatology of FSD. This underlines the severity of having FSD and stresses the relevance of the resilience theory in the understanding of the condition.
KW - chronic fatigue syndrome
KW - fibromyalgia
KW - functional somatic disorders
KW - functional somatic syndromes
KW - irritable bowel syndrome
KW - perceived stress
KW - population-based
KW - self-efficacy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152714698&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2147/CLEP.S399914
DO - 10.2147/CLEP.S399914
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37008745
SN - 1179-1349
VL - 15
SP - 407
EP - 419
JO - Clinical Epidemiology
JF - Clinical Epidemiology
ER -