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. 2011 Sep;36(8):932-41.
doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsr024. Epub 2011 May 5.

Anxiety, coping, and disability: a test of mediation in a pediatric chronic pain sample

Karen J Kaczynski  1 , Laura E Simons, Robyn Lewis Claar
Affiliations

Anxiety, coping, and disability: a test of mediation in a pediatric chronic pain sample

Karen J Kaczynski et al. J Pediatr Psychol. 2011 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate pain coping as a mediator of associations between anxiety and functional disability and anxiety and somatic symptoms in adolescents with chronic pain.

Method: Participants (mean age = 14.76 years, range: 12-17 years) included 280 patients (212 girls) with chronic pain who underwent multidisciplinary evaluation at a tertiary pain clinic in a northeast pediatric hospital. Patients completed measures of current pain, anxiety, active, passive, and accommodative pain coping, functional disability, and somatic symptoms.

Results: Structural equation modeling was employed. The association between anxiety and disability was fully mediated by passive coping. The association between anxiety and somatic symptoms was not mediated by coping.

Conclusions: Links between anxiety symptoms and pain-related outcomes in adolescents with chronic pain are complex. Assessing how an adolescent copes with his/her pain provides further understanding of this relationship.

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