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Parent and child anxiety sensitivity: relationship to children's experimental pain responsivity
Jennie C I Tsao1, Qian Lu, Cynthia D Myers
1Pediatric Pain Program, Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. jtsao@mednet.ucla.edu
The Journal of Pain
|April 25, 2006
Summary
Parental anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety sensations) impacts girls' pain intensity through their own anxiety sensitivity. This link was not observed in boys, highlighting sex differences in pain response development.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Pain Research
- Child Development
Background:
- Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the fear of anxiety sensations, is linked to childhood learning of somatic symptoms.
- Parental AS may influence children's pain responses, particularly in relation to somatic symptom learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test a conceptual model where parent AS predicts child AS, which then predicts children's pain intensity.
- To examine if child sex moderates the relationship between parental AS, child AS, and pain intensity.
Main Methods:
- Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from 211 nonclinical parent-child pairs.
- Children completed three laboratory pain tasks: cold pressor, thermal heat, and pressure.
- The model was tested separately for boys and girls to assess sex differences.
Main Results:
- The conceptual model was supported in girls, but not in boys, indicating sex as a moderator.
- In girls, parent AS predicted child AS, which in turn predicted laboratory pain intensity.
- Parental AS explained 42% of the effect on girls' pain intensity via child AS; this link was absent in boys.
Conclusions:
- Sex differences exist in the pathways linking parental and child anxiety sensitivity to children's experimental pain responses.
- For girls, learning history related to somatic symptoms appears crucial for developing AS and pain responsivity.
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