• Monica C O'Neill, Rebecca Pillai Riddell, Hartley Garfield, and Saul Greenberg.
• Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• J Pain. 2016 Dec 1; 17 (12): 1273-1280.

AbstractThis study aimed to understand the relationship between caregiver culture and infant pain expression at the 12-month immunization and discern if a mechanism subsuming this relationship was the quality of caregiver behaviors (emotional availability). Infants (N = 393) with immunization data at 12 months of age were examined. On the basis of the Development of Infant Acute Pain Responding model, a mediation model was developed to examine how caregiver behaviors mediate the relationship between caregiver heritage culture and infant pain. Culture was operationalized by an objectively derived quantification of caregivers' self-reported heritage culture's individualism. Two mediation models were estimated, examining infant pain expression at 1 and 2 minutes post-needle. Caregivers who self-reported heritage cultures that were more highly individualistic tended to show greater emotional availability, which in turn predicted decreased infant pain expression at 1 and 2 minutes post-needle. The present findings further our understanding of one mechanism by which caregiver culture affects infant acute pain expression.Copyright © 2016 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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