Association of personal, behavioral and positive psychological variables with somatization and number of diseases in Mexican general population: the influence of gender.

The objective of the study is to determine the personal, behavioral and psychological variables associated with somatization and the number of diseases in each gender from a sample of Mexican general population. They answered a questionnaire of behavioral and psychological variables including somatization and the sum of 16 different diseases and any additional one, finally the body mass index (BMI) was measured. A total of 164 participants (women = 90, men = 74) were included. We observed that women had more somatization and number of diseases than men and that more variables (mainly psychological) were associated with somatization and with the number of diseases in women than in men. Among the variables most negatively correlated in women with both variables were sleep quality (r = -0.525 and r = -0.536, p < 0.001), self-acceptance (r = -0.460 and r = -0.501, p < 0.001), positive relations with others (r = -0.447 and r = -0.441 p < 0.001), environmental mastery (r = -0.414, p < 0.001, for both variables), purpose in life and optimism; while men only showed a low negative correlation between emotion regulation and the number of diseases (r = -0.289, p < 0.05). The positive associated variables in women were anxiety, negative emotions and depression; while men showed a lower correlation between these three variables only with somatization. The somatization and age were positively related to the number of diseases in both genders and the BMI was significantly associated with the number of diseases only in men. In conclusion, women had more somatization and number of diseases than men and also had more relation between psychological variables and the two dependent variables than men, which could in part explains the higher values of somatization and the number of diseases in women, considering that they usually present higher values of psychopathological variables.

Association of Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Stress-Coping Strategies with Somatization and Number of Diseases According to Sex in the Mexican General Population.

Somatization and number of diseases are interrelated variables, whose association with stress-coping strategies, according to sex, has not been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate such association in a sample of the Mexican general population. The general population was invited to answer an electronic questionnaire via the social networks-e-mail, WhatsApp and Facebook-by the research team. A sample of 1008 adults was obtained, of which 62.2% were women, in whom we detected higher levels of negative psychological variables, somatization and number of diseases and lower levels of sleep quality. Positive moderate correlations were found between depresion, anxiety and stress with somatization, on one hand, and with the number of diseases, on the other, and negative moderate correlations were found between sleep quality and the two dependent variables. As for the coping strategies, self-blame, behavioral disengagement, denial, self-distraction and substance use were positively correlated with somatization. Of these, self-blame, substance use, and self-distraction also showed a positive correlation with number of diseases in both sexes. Negative correlations were detected for active coping and the two dependent variables in men and for religion and planning with somatization in women. In conclusion, the coping strategies showed significant correlations with somatization and number of diseases in both sexes.