Parent reports of coping and stress responses in children with recurrent abdominal pain

To examine relationships among coping, stress responses, pain, somatic symptoms, and anxious/depressed symptoms in a sample of children and adolescents with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP).

We assessed parents' reports of coping and involuntary responses to stress in relation to pain, somatic symptoms, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a sample of 174 children and adolescents with RAP.

Based on parent reports, children's primary control engagement coping (e.g., problem solving, emotional modulation) and secondary control engagement coping (e.g., acceptance, distraction, positive thinking) in response to pain were associated with fewer somatic complaints and symptoms of anxiety and depression; secondary control engagement coping was also associated with less pain. Involuntary engagement (e.g., physiological reactivity, rumination) and disengagement (e.g., escape, inaction) responses to pain were associated with more somatic symptoms and higher levels of anxiety and depression.

We highlight implications of these findings for understanding processes of coping and stress reactivity in children with RAP.