CAN SOMATIC SYMPTOMS PREDICT DEPRESSION?

In this study Kuwaiti undergraduate students (N = 215) completed the 60 individual items of the Somatic Symptoms Inventory (Abdel-Khalek, 2003) and 3 scales of depression – the Symptom Checklist-90, Depression Subscale (SCL-90; D: Derogatis, 1994) the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CESD: Radloff, 1977) and the Hopkins Symptoms Check List-Depression Scale (HCS-D: Derogatis, Lipman, Rickels, Uhlenhuth, & Covi, 1974) to determine the correlation between the 60 individual items of the SSI and the 3 scales of depression. It was concluded that the following somatic symptoms can predict depression in a nonclinical sample: tension, heart pains, sleep disorder, anorexia, weight gain, migraine, and sexual disorders, respectively.