Psychological characteristics of children who suffer from headache: a research note

Twenty-three volunteer subjects were compared with 23 (matched) control subjects on self and parental ratings of anxiety, depression, shyness-sensitivity, sleeping difficulties, perfectionism, psychosomatic problems (unrelated to headache), other behavioural disturbances, major life stress events and parental expectations (i.e. achievement orientation). Results indicated that the headache children showed significantly higher shyness-sensitivity, psychosomatic problems and behavioural disturbances and significantly lower parental expectations than the control group children. No other differences were found. While none of the variables were predictive of the frequency or intensity of head pain, measures of anxiety, perfectionism, and life stress events contributed significantly to the prediction of the severity of head pain.