Somatization Disorder in Relatives of Children and Adolescents with Functional Abdominal Pain

The mothers of 20 children and adolescents with functional abdominal pain and 20 with abdominal pain from a clear organic ailment were given a standardized interview concerning first-and second-degree relatives of the child. Interviewers were blind to the diagnosis of the children. A significantly higher proportion of children with functional abdominal pain had relatives with either alcoholism, antisocial or conduct disorder, attention deficit disorder, or somatization disorder, compared to children with organically based abdominal pain. In particular, 10 of the 20 children with functional pain had one or more relatives with somatization disorder, while only I child with organic pain had such a relative. Significantly more of these relatives were female than male. The two groups of children also differed significantly on the Somatization scale of the Achenbach Child Behavior checklist. The findings were interpreted as further evidence for the existence of precursors of somatization disorder in childhood.