Psychological and family functioning among children of parents with recurrent headaches

Research suggests that children of parents with chronic pain might be at risk for a variety of psychological symptoms. This study compared 52 children of parents with recurrent headaches and either low or high levels of accompanying disability with 23 children of parents without recurrent pain on various aspects of psychological and family functioning. Parent reports generally did not indicate any differences between children of parents with headaches and children of parents without recurrent pain, and no group differences were found in terms of children's self-reported psychological or family functioning. This study suggests that children of parents with recurrent headaches might not be at risk for poor functioning compared with children of parents without recurrent pain. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

Chronic pain is often believed to be associated with negative impacts on the family. This study included parents with recurrent headaches and their children and examined children's psychological and family adjustment in comparison to children whose parents did not have pain.