Parental Beliefs and Worries Regarding Adolescent Chronic Pain

OBJECTIVESTo explore relationships between beliefs and worries held by parents of adolescents with chronic, nondisease specific, musculoskeletal pain and (1) parental pain promoting behaviors, (2) the adolescentʼs pain-related disability, (3) family functioning, and (4) parenting stress. METHODSA retrospective chart review was conducted for 138 adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes presenting at an outpatient pediatric multidisciplinary pain management clinic. Adolescents reported on pain, disability, and parental pain promoting behaviors. Parents reported on their beliefs about the cause of and their responsibility for the adolescentʼs pain, worry about the adolescentʼs physical and emotional/behavioral health, parental pain promoting behaviors, family functioning, and parenting stress. RESULTSParental beliefs that the cause of the adolescentʼs pain was “medical only” significantly moderated the relationship between adolescent pain and disability. Adolescent disability was positively correlated with parental worry about the adolescentʼs physical, but not emotional/behavioral, health. Parental worries about both physical and emotional/behavioral health were positively correlated with parentsʼ use of pain promoting behaviors. A positive relationship between poorer family functioning and parenting stress was found to be partially mediated by parent beliefs that the adolescentʼs pain was “medical only.” DISCUSSIONThese findings provide insight into the complex interrelationships that exist among parentsʼ beliefs and worries about adolescent pain, parental pain promoting behavior, adolescent disability, family functioning, and parenting stress that may have implications for treatment decisions made on the adolescentʼs behalf.