Physical complaints,anxiety, and its body outcomes: A psychophysiological field study

The relationship between the subjective experience of physical complaints and anxiety and physiological measurements was investigated in a psychophysiological field study. Dependent physiological variables were heart rate and electromyogram (EMG). Of 178 adolescents two extreme groups, each equal in age and sex, were assigned: one group (N=9) characterized by high scores in anxiety and physical complaints, and the other group (N=9) by low scores in these factors. The assertion was that particularly strong psychophysiological reactions would be found to be dependent on individual psychological dispositions. All adolescents were measured with a portable psychophysiological recording device during a normal school day of 7 hr. In the physiological measurements, the two groups differed from each other in that the adolescents reporting many physical complaints and having a high score in anxiety showed an overall higher EMG and an overall lower heart rate (not significant) during the course of the day. This pattern could be reproduced after 2 months. The physiological data appear to be rather stable. The high-scoring group's reactions were more inflexible in relation to the physiological measurements, and they showed a tendency to respond in the same way to different situations, while the other group reacted more flexibly to situational demands.