Catastrophizing and Pain-Coping in Young Adults: Associations With Depressive Symptoms and Headache Pain
Open accessAbstract
Unlabelled Cognitive and behavioral pain-coping strategies, particularly catastrophizing, are important determinants of the pain experience. Most studies of pain-coping are performed in samples of treatment-seeking patients with longstanding pain complaints. Individual differences in pain-coping styles may also significantly affect day-to-day pain and quality of life in nonclinical samples, though this has rarely been investigated. In particular, headache pain is common in the general population, and little is known about how pain-related coping affects pain and quality of life among headache sufferers from a nonclinical setting. In this study, 202 generally healthy subjects were divided into 2 groups, those who reported problem headaches and pain-free control subjects. Reports of pain-related catastrophizing and the use of active pain-coping strategies did not differ between the groups, but differential associations between pain-coping strategies and emotional functioning were observed. Specifically, within the headache group only, those reporting higher levels of pain catastrophizing and lower levels of active pain-coping showed the highest level of depressive symptoms. Further, higher catastrophizing was associated with greater headache pain and pain-related interference. These findings suggest that catastrophizing has little influence on emotional functioning in those without ongoing pain complaints and highlight the importance of coping in modulating the consequences of pain on day-to-day functioning, even in samples from nonclinical settings. Moreover, these findings indirectly suggest that interventions that increase adaptive coping and decrease catastrophizing may help to buffer some of the deleterious functional consequences of headache pain.Perspective This study adds to a growing literature that conceptualizes catastrophizing as a diathesis, or risk factor, for deleterious pain-related consequences. These data suggest that catastrophizing may require the presence of a pain condition before its detrimental effects are exerted.
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A positive association has been documented between depression and catastrophism.
“A positive association has been documented between depression and catastrophism [16]”
From Effectiveness of the psychological and pharmacological treatment of catastrophization in patients with fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial. (2009) · cites this paper as [16]
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“The PCS is a 13-item self-report questionnaire derived partially from the Coping Strategies Questionnaire [16] and other descriptions of catastrophization [1,18,19].”
BackgroundMethod
- Authors
- Buenaver, L. F., Edwards, R. R., Smith, M. T., Gramling, S. E., & Haythornthwaite, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Buenaver, Luis F.
- Venue
- The Journal of Pain
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 311-319
- ISSN
- 1526-5900 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1980564682
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 3.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (7k23ar051315-05)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 02225, K24NS002225, NS 051771, R21NS051771, K23NS047168)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (AR051315)
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (F32DE017282)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Migraine and Headache Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Keywords
- pain catastrophizing, pain coping, headache, depressive symptoms, young adults, pain interference, emotional functioning, quality of life
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aging, Anxiety, Attitude to Health, Chronic Disease, Depressive Disorder, Ethnicity, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pain, Pain Measurement, Quality of Life, Risk Factors, Headache Disorders
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