Adaptation of the Russian Version of the Children’s Somatic Symptoms Inventory on a Sample of Orphans and Children without Parental Care

Abstract

This study was aimed to adapt the Russian version of the Children’s Somatic Symptoms Inventory-8 (CSSI-8). The participants were 160 orphans and children and adolescents left without parental care, including 80 girls and 80 boys aged 9 to 17 years (M=14,51; Me=15 years; SD=1,79). All participants completed CSSI-8 and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-30 (RCADS-30). The Russian version of the inventory was reliable and valid: firstly, it has a high Cronbach’s α, showing its internal reliability; secondly, it has a one-factor structure, indicating its factor validity; thirdly, the relationship of somatic symptoms with anxiety and depressive symptoms proves convergent validity. Thus, 76,2% of children and adolescents had at least one specific somatic symptom, 44,4% complained of pain in stomach or abdomen, 58,7% of headaches, 30,6% of pain in lower back, 19,4% of faintness or dizziness, 29,4% of pain in arms or legs, 28,7% of heart palpitations, nausea or upset stomach, 47,5% of weakness in some parts of the body. In conclusion, it is important to make future psychometric examinations of the adapted questionnaire, which allow us to recommend it for school diagnosis and psychological counseling of children and adolescents, as well as screening and monitoring of somatoform disorders.