Differentiating state versus trait pain catastrophizing.
Melissa A. Day, Georgia Young, Mark P. Jensen
Abstract
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: = 120). RESULTS: A sensory pain referent, as opposed to an emotional pain referent, was reported by 92% of the healthy group and 95% of the pain group; however, the PCS pain referent in the pain group was different from their self-reported type of chronic/recurrent pain in 55% of cases. In the healthy group, 86% of participants reported PCS pain referents that occurred > 24 hr ago; 51% of participants in the pain group reported using pain referents occurring < 24 hr ago. Neuroticism and conscientiousness significantly predicted PCS scores in the healthy group. Within the pain group, both neuroticism and the state-oriented measure of rumination/absorption significantly predicted PCS scores, with rumination/absorption evidencing the largest effect size. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: These findings suggest individuals with and without chronic/recurrent pain focus on a sensory pain referent when answering the PCS. The results have implications for refining the PCS instructions and for improving the sensitivity of this measure in capturing variance in pain-related outcomes, particularly when administered in homogenous pain type (e.g., migraine) populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).