Gender difference of subjective symptoms of fatigue among Japanese adolescents

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>The purpose of this study was to quantitatively and qualitatively examine a gender difference of subjective symptoms of fatigue (SSF) in healthy students.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The subjective fatigue scale for young adults (SFS-Y) consisted of the following 6 subscales concentration thinking difficulty, languor, reduced activation, reduced motivation, drowsiness and feeling of physical disintegration. The SFS-Y was administered to 5,435 students aged 15 to 20 yr. Student's t test was used to examine quantitative gender differences for items and factor scores. The qualitative gender difference was examined by comparing factor structures obtained from confirmatory factor analysis. A similarity in the factor structure was evaluated from 1) interpreted factor names, 2) factor loadings, 3) degree of fit, and 4) congruence coefficient.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A complaint of SSF shows gender differences, but the difference is not remarkable. The factor structure of SSF in males and females is suggested to be the same, because six factors with the same name were interpreted in both groups and the similarity of factor structure was very high.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There are some qualitative gender differences in SFS, but no qualitative gender differences in factor structure.</p>