Adolescents' Observations of Parent Pain Behaviors: Preliminary Measure Validation and Test of Social Learning Theory in Pediatric Chronic Pain.

OBJECTIVE:  Evaluate psychometric properties of a measure of adolescents' observations of parental pain behaviors and use this measure to test hypotheses regarding pain-specific social learning.

METHODS:  We created a proxy-report of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pain Behavior-Short Form (PPB) for adolescents to report on parental pain behaviors, which we labeled the PPB-Proxy. Adolescents (n = 138, mean age = 14.20) with functional abdominal pain completed the PPB-Proxy and a parent completed the PPB. Adolescents and their parents completed measures of pain and disability during the adolescent's clinic visit for abdominal pain. Adolescents subsequently completed a 7-day pain diary period.

RESULTS:  The PPB-Proxy moderately correlated with the PPB, evidencing that adolescents observe and can report on parental pain behaviors. Both the PPB-Proxy and PPB significantly correlated with adolescents' pain-related disability.

CONCLUSIONS:  Parental modeling of pain behaviors could represent an important target for assessment and treatment in pediatric chronic pain patients.