• Subhadra Evans, Laura A Payne, Laura Seidman, Kirsten Lung, Lonnie Zeltzer, and Jennie C I Tsao.
• School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood Victoria 3125, Australia. subhadra.evans@deakin.edu.au.
• Children (Basel). 2016 Jun 20; 3 (2).

AbstractThere has been limited empirical examination of how parent variables such as anxiety and solicitousness collectively impact child pain response. We sought to examine the relationships among maternal anxiety, solicitous parenting, and children's laboratory anxiety and pain intensity in children with chronic pain. Participants included 80 children and adolescents (ages 8-18) with chronic pain and their mothers. Children completed questionnaires and lab pain tasks measuring their parents' solicitous parenting, pressure, cold and heat pain anticipatory anxiety and pain intensity. Using bootstrapping analysis, maternal anxiety predicted child anticipatory anxiety and pain intensity in girls with chronic pain, which was mediated by the child's report of parental solicitousness. For boys with chronic pain, maternal anxiety predicted boys' anticipatory anxiety and pain intensity, with no support for mediation. This study adds to the growing literature demonstrating the impact of maternal anxiety on children's pain. The study highlights the importance of considering parents in treatment designed to reduce children's pain.

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