Insecure children suffer more pain and depression

Adolescents who are socially insecure also experience more aches and pains and depression. Researchers from the Universite de Montreal studied 382 students from years 8 to 12 who weres asked to fill in questionnaires about their physical and emotional pain. The insecure teenagers experienced more pain in the form of headaches, stomach aches and joint pain and were more likely to be depressed. They also tended to be more 'alarmist' about their pain seeing it as a harbinger of something more serious. The researchers also thought that the insecure teenagers might exaggerate their pain in order to elicit more support from friends and family. Previous studies have shown that rather than being a phase that people grow out of insecure children tend to become insecure adolescents and then insecure adults.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172193.php