• Jannike Kaasbøll, Ingunn Ranøyen, Wendy Nilsen, Stian Lydersen, and Marit S Indredavik.
• Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare (RKBU) of Central Norway, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Postbox 8905, Medisinsk teknisk forskningssenter (MTFS), N-7491, Trondheim, Norway. jannike.kaasboll@ntnu.no.
• Bmc Public Health. 2015 Aug 22; 15: 817.

BackgroundParental chronic pain has been associated with adverse outcomes in offspring. However, knowledge on individual and family resilience factors in adolescent offspring of chronic pain sufferers is scarce. This study thus aimed to investigate the associations between parental chronic pain and self-esteem, social competence, and family cohesion levels reported by adolescent girls and boys.MethodsBased on cross-sectional surveys from the Nord Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT 3 study), the study used independent self-reports from adolescents aged 13 to 18 years (n = 3227) and their parents and conducted separate linear regression analyses for girls and boys.ResultsConcurrent maternal and paternal chronic pain was associated with reduced self-esteem, social competence, and family cohesion in girls. Moreover, maternal chronic pain was associated with higher social competence in boys and reduced self-esteem in girls. The majority of the observed associations were significantly different between girls and boys. Paternal chronic pain was not found to be associated with child outcomes.ConclusionsThe findings indicate that the presence of both maternal and paternal chronic pain could be a potential risk factor for lower levels of individual and family resilience factors reported by girls. Further research on the relationship between parental pain and sex-specific offspring characteristics, including positive resilience factors, is warranted. The study demonstrates the importance of targeting the entire family in chronic pain care.

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