The relationship between reports of pain-related social interactions and expressions of pain and affective distress

Results from previous studies have suggested that patients' perceptions of the positive versus negative quality of responses from others to their pain may differentially predict pain and depressive symptom severity. In the present study, 126 chronic pain patients completed the West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory that yielded ratings of the perceived frequency of Solicitous, Distracting, and Negative responses of significant others to pain and the Pain Behavior Check List from which the frequencies of four categories of pain behaviors were derived. Regression analyses revealed that the significant other response scales contributed incrementally to the prediction of total reported pain behaviors over and above the contribution of demographic and pain-relevant variables. The Solicitous and Distracting response scales contributed uniquely and positively to the prediction of reported frequencies of Distorted Ambulation, Facial/Audible Expressions of pain, and Seeking Help, whereas the Negative response scale was uniquely and positively predictive of reported frequency of expressions of Affective Distress.