• Jessica L Fales, Bonnie S Essner, Michael A Harris, and Tonya M Palermo.
• PhD, Department of Child Health, Behavior, & Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, M/S CW8-6, PO Box 5371, Seattle, WA 98145, USA. jessica.fales@seattlechildrens.org.
• J Pediatr Psychol. 2014 May 1;39(4):427-37.

ObjectiveTo examine "miscarried helping" as a maladaptive dyadic process in families of youth with chronic pain using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.Methods210 adolescents with chronic pain (mean = 14.23 years; 73.9% female) and their parents participating in a multicenter study completed measures assessing pain characteristics, miscarried helping, family functioning, parental protectiveness, and child depressive symptoms.ResultsMultilevel modeling revealed significant actor effects of miscarried helping on family functioning for both parents and teens, but not partner effects. Individual-level factors, including child pain characteristics, depressive symptoms, and parental protectiveness, uniquely contributed to miscarried helping.ConclusionsHigher perceptions of miscarried helping contribute to worse family functioning and may be a useful target for psychological intervention in parents of children with chronic pain. Parents who exhibit more protective responses to pain and youth with more depressive symptoms may be at increased risk for a miscarried helping process to develop.

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