Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study
BackgroundParental behavior can influence how well adolescents cope with chronic pain. Previous research has largely focused on how parents negatively impact adolescent functioning. Yet more recent work suggests that parents – and particularly parental psychological flexibility – can foster better a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02350/full |
| _version_ | 1828517607921156096 |
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| author | Melanie Beeckman Laura E. Simons Sean Hughes Tom Loeys Liesbet Goubert |
| author_facet | Melanie Beeckman Laura E. Simons Sean Hughes Tom Loeys Liesbet Goubert |
| author_sort | Melanie Beeckman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundParental behavior can influence how well adolescents cope with chronic pain. Previous research has largely focused on how parents negatively impact adolescent functioning. Yet more recent work suggests that parents – and particularly parental psychological flexibility – can foster better adolescent pain-related functioning. In this study we examined if parental protective responses and instructions to engage in activities in the presence of pain mediate the impact of parental psychological flexibility and acceptance of adolescent pain on adolescents’ daily pain-related behavior.MethodFifty-six adolescents with chronic pain (Mage = 14.5 years, 86% girls) and one of their parents (93% mothers) were recruited at initial evaluation at two pediatric pain clinics in the US. Parents completed baseline questionnaires assessing psychologically flexible parenting and acceptance of adolescent pain. Next, parents and adolescents completed a 14-day self-report diary assessing adolescent activity-avoidance and activity-engagement in the presence of pain (adolescent report), and parental protective responses and instructions for their adolescent to engage in activities (parent report).ResultsPsychologically flexible parenting and acceptance of adolescent pain in parents were indirectly related to lower daily adolescent activity-avoidance, via their negative association with daily parental protective responses. Positive associations also emerged between baseline psychologically flexible parenting and overall levels of adolescent activity-engagement via its negative association with overall levels of parental protectiveness across the 14-day period. Psychologically flexible parenting and parental acceptance of adolescent pain were also indirectly related to daily decreases in adolescent activity-avoidance via their association with daily increases in parental activity-engagement instructions. These baseline parental resilience factors were also positively related to overall levels of parental engagement instructions, a route via which an indirect association with both higher overall activity-engagement as well as higher overall activity-avoidance in the adolescent was observed.ConclusionOur findings suggest an (indirect) adaptive role of parental psychological flexibility on adolescent daily pain-related behavior via its impact on parental protective behavior. If our findings replicate, they would suggest that these parental behaviors could be targeted in pain treatments that include both adolescents and their parents. Future research could further examine the impact of parental instructions on pain-related behavior in adolescents with chronic pain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:43:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d6762f82b8d04aecbc265a8ca685f393 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:43:44Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-d6762f82b8d04aecbc265a8ca685f3932022-12-22T00:54:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-10-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.02350480928Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary StudyMelanie Beeckman0Laura E. Simons1Sean Hughes2Tom Loeys3Liesbet Goubert4Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, United StatesDepartment of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Data Analysis, Ghent University, Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, BelgiumBackgroundParental behavior can influence how well adolescents cope with chronic pain. Previous research has largely focused on how parents negatively impact adolescent functioning. Yet more recent work suggests that parents – and particularly parental psychological flexibility – can foster better adolescent pain-related functioning. In this study we examined if parental protective responses and instructions to engage in activities in the presence of pain mediate the impact of parental psychological flexibility and acceptance of adolescent pain on adolescents’ daily pain-related behavior.MethodFifty-six adolescents with chronic pain (Mage = 14.5 years, 86% girls) and one of their parents (93% mothers) were recruited at initial evaluation at two pediatric pain clinics in the US. Parents completed baseline questionnaires assessing psychologically flexible parenting and acceptance of adolescent pain. Next, parents and adolescents completed a 14-day self-report diary assessing adolescent activity-avoidance and activity-engagement in the presence of pain (adolescent report), and parental protective responses and instructions for their adolescent to engage in activities (parent report).ResultsPsychologically flexible parenting and acceptance of adolescent pain in parents were indirectly related to lower daily adolescent activity-avoidance, via their negative association with daily parental protective responses. Positive associations also emerged between baseline psychologically flexible parenting and overall levels of adolescent activity-engagement via its negative association with overall levels of parental protectiveness across the 14-day period. Psychologically flexible parenting and parental acceptance of adolescent pain were also indirectly related to daily decreases in adolescent activity-avoidance via their association with daily increases in parental activity-engagement instructions. These baseline parental resilience factors were also positively related to overall levels of parental engagement instructions, a route via which an indirect association with both higher overall activity-engagement as well as higher overall activity-avoidance in the adolescent was observed.ConclusionOur findings suggest an (indirect) adaptive role of parental psychological flexibility on adolescent daily pain-related behavior via its impact on parental protective behavior. If our findings replicate, they would suggest that these parental behaviors could be targeted in pain treatments that include both adolescents and their parents. Future research could further examine the impact of parental instructions on pain-related behavior in adolescents with chronic pain.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02350/fullparental psychological flexibilityadolescent chronic painadolescent pain-related behaviorparental protective behaviorparental instructions |
| spellingShingle | Melanie Beeckman Laura E. Simons Sean Hughes Tom Loeys Liesbet Goubert Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study Frontiers in Psychology parental psychological flexibility adolescent chronic pain adolescent pain-related behavior parental protective behavior parental instructions |
| title | Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study |
| title_full | Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study |
| title_fullStr | Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study |
| title_short | Investigating How Parental Instructions and Protective Responses Mediate the Relationship Between Parental Psychological Flexibility and Pain-Related Behavior in Adolescents With Chronic Pain: A Daily Diary Study |
| title_sort | investigating how parental instructions and protective responses mediate the relationship between parental psychological flexibility and pain related behavior in adolescents with chronic pain a daily diary study |
| topic | parental psychological flexibility adolescent chronic pain adolescent pain-related behavior parental protective behavior parental instructions |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02350/full |
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