Pain catastrophizing and employment histories

Studies examining pain catastrophizing and employment have had mixed findings. No study of pain catastrophizing has examined its relationship to lifetime employment status in a general clinical population.

To examine pain catastrophizing in relationship to lifetime employment functioning in a sample of US primary care patients (rather than injured workers).

A cross-sectional anonymous self-report survey of consecutive adults in a US internal medicine outpatient clinic. We assessed pain catastrophizing using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and employment histories using a four-item author-developed measure.

There were 239 participants and an initial participation rate of 70%. While pain catastrophizing was not related to the number of different full-time jobs held or the percentage of time employed in adulthood, pain catastrophizing was statistically significantly associated with ever having been paid 'under the table' [F(1,236) = 27.89, P < 0.001] and ever having been fired from a job [F(1,237) = 50.78, P < 0.001], as well as with not getting along with fellow employees [F(1,60) = 7.48, P < 0.01].

In this clinical sample, pain catastrophizing demonstrated varying relationships with different aspects of lifetime employment, rather than exerting an overall global effect on employment.