Pain in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis—A Family Matter

The purpose of this study was to identify the associations between parental and child psychosocial factors and pain in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The sample comprised 142 patients with JIA and the attending parent. Explorative factor analysis was used to identify higher-order factors reflecting the interaction between the parent (parental anxiety and depressive symptoms, parental illness management, and parental self-efficacy) and child (trait anxiety, depression, functional disability, pain, and self-efficacy) variables. Linear multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the extent to which these common factors might account for variance in the levels of pain experienced by children diagnosed with JIA. One of the higher-order factors comprised both parental and child variables. This and two additional factors were uniquely associated with the children's pain reports in the regression analysis. Research and clinical implications are discussed in light of the findings of the study.