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Tension-Type Headache in Early Adolescents: Exploring the Predictive Role of Anxiety and Alexithymia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

F. Bizzi ,
S. Charpentier Mora ,
A. Riva ,
M. Tironi  and
R. Nacinovich
F. Bizzi
Affiliation:
University of Genoa, Department Of Educational Sciences (disfor), Genoa, Italy
S. Charpentier Mora
Affiliation:
University of Genoa, Department Of Educational Sciences (disfor), Genoa, Italy
A. Riva
Affiliation:
San Gerardo Hospital, Child Neuropsychiatry Clinic, Monza, Italy
M. Tironi*
Affiliation:
University of Genoa, Department Of Educational Sciences (disfor), Genoa, Italy
R. Nacinovich
Affiliation:
San Gerardo Hospital, Child Neuropsychiatry Clinic, Monza, Italy
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Primary Headache, including Tension-Type Headache (TTH), represents one of the most common somatic disorders in children and adolescents with a strong impact on quality of life. Several risk factors, as environmental, familiar, and psychological features, including personality traits, are related to the development of Primary Headache. However, studies on specific subgroups of TTH are relatively few in early adolescents.

Objectives

Therefore, this cross-sectional pilot study aims at exploring the role of anxiety and alexithymia in early adolescents with and without TTH.

Methods

A sample of 70 early adolescents (Mage=14.59, SD=1.85; 71% females) consisting of a clinical group (31 with TTH) enrolled in an Italian Child Neuropsychiatry Clinic and a comparison group (38 without TTH) enrolled in schools, matched on gender and age, completed: 1) Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) to detect the Total levels of Anxiety, also in their factor of Physical Symptoms, Social Anxiety, Harm Avoidance, and Separation Anxiety; 2) the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to detect the Total levels of Alexithymia, also in their factor of Difficulty to Identifying and to Describing Feelings and Externally Oriented Thinking.

Results

TTH outcome positively correlated with Harm Avoidance (rho=.68, p<.001) and Total Alexithymia (rho=.72, p<.001). In a logistic regression, Harm Avoidance and Total Alexithymia predicted 69% of the variance in TTH outcome (p<.032).

Conclusions

This disorder may be a maladaptive strategy to cope with problems and feeling emotions, then early adolescents could be fostered in the acquisition of more adaptive emotion regulation abilities.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

Tension-Type HeadacheEarly AdolescentsalexithymiaAnxiety
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S443
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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