Health-Related Self-Efficacy Moderates the Relationship Between Pain and Functional Impairment: A Cross-Sectional...

Individuals with chronic or complex illnesses often endorse pain as a symptom of their disease. Experiences of pain are positively associated with depression and anxiety symptomatology and can have a long-term impact on general functioning. Despite the prevalence of pain in emerging adults, most research has been conducted with adolescent, general adult, and older adult samples. Emerging adults often endorse lower health-related self-efficacy than older adults, and self-efficacy more broadly may be an important intervention target to improve general functioning for those with chronic or complex illnesses across the lifespan.

The current cross-sectional study aimed to examine the impact of health-related self-efficacy on the relationship between pain intensity and general functioning in an emerging adult population.

Participants (N = 149) included undergraduate students (70.5% female, 68.9% White) aged 18-21 with at least one chronic or complex illness.

Pain severity and health-related self-efficacy were significantly associated with physical health, emotional well-being, and role limitations due to physical health but not role limitations due to emotional problems. Health-related self-efficacy significantly moderated the relationship between pain severity and role limitations due to physical health.

Continued research with emerging adults is needed to further clarify possible differences in the interdependence of health-related self-efficacy and physical versus emotional well-being for this specific (age) demographic.

It is possible that interventions might need to be tailored based on whether individuals have concurrent emotional problems, as health-related self-efficacy alone might not sufficiently assuage emotional problems in individuals with a chronic/complex illness and comorbid pain.