• Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium. liesbet.goubert@ugent.be
• Eur J Pain. 2012 Sep 1;16(8):1176-84.

BackgroundThis study examined which parents report to be solicitous or discouraging in response to their child's pain, and when they do so.MethodsUsing a vignette methodology, mothers (n = 472) and fathers (n = 271) imagined their child in pain situations varying in duration (1 day or several weeks) and cause of pain (known or unknown biomedical cause).ResultsIn general, fathers demonstrated similar tendencies toward solicitousness than mothers, but reported to engage more in discouraging behaviours. In line with expectations, parents who catastrophized about their child's pain reported a higher inclination to engage in solicitous behaviours. Only for fathers, high catastrophizing was also related to a higher report of discouraging behaviours. However, the effects of catastrophizing differed across situations varying in duration and cause of pain. Specifically, the effect of parental catastrophizing upon self-reported solicitous behaviours was particularly strong when imagining their child in pain with unknown biomedical cause. Further, high catastrophizing in fathers only translated in a higher inclination for discouraging responses when imagining their child in pain of short duration.ConclusionsThe findings of the current study highlight the importance of parental catastrophizing in explaining parental behavioural tendencies in response to their child in pain. Further, reported behaviours were found to vary across pain situations, attesting to the importance of studying parental behaviour 'in context'.© 2012 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters.

22 keywords...

hide…