Anxiety, Coping, and Disability: A Test of Mediation in a Pediatric Chronic Pain Sample

Objective To evaluate pain coping as a mediator of associations between anxiety and functional disability and anxiety and somatic symptoms in adolescents with chronic pain. Method Participants (mean age = 14.76 years, range: 12-17 years) included 280 patients (212 girls) with chronic pain who underwent multidisciplinary evaluation at a tertiary pain clinic in a northeast pediatric hospital. Patients completed measures of current pain, anxiety, active, passive, and accommodative pain coping, functional disability, and somatic symptoms. Results Structural equation modeling was employed. The association between anxiety and disability was fully mediated by passive coping. The association between anxiety and somatic symptoms was not mediated by coping. Conclusions Links between anxiety symptoms and pain-related outcomes in adolescents with chronic pain are complex. Assessing how an adolescent copes with his/her pain provides further understanding of this relationship.