Chronic Pain and Anxiety in Children: Physiological and Emotional Factors in Stress Responses
Jackson, Madeleine E.
:
2007-05-08
Abstract
College of Arts & Science The current study examined physiological and emotional factors in stress responses of 21 children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP), 21 children with anxiety disorders, and 21 gender- and age-matched healthy controls. Children's heart rates were monitored as they performed two psychological stress tasks and one physical stress task. Pain intensity and tolerance were measured during the cold pressor task. Parents and children completed questionnaires to assess children's psychological and somatic symptoms and responses to social stress. Findings indicate that children with RAP and anxious children report different levels of stress reactivity and provide different pain assessments of the cold pressor task. Findings also demonstrate a positive association between physiological stress reactivity and self-reported stress reactivity and psychological symptoms. Psychological and somatic symptoms were incrementally accounted for by physiological and self-reported stress reactivity.
Files in this item
This item appears in the following collection(s):
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Ragan, Jennifer (Vanderbilt University, 2014)Objective. Children diagnosed with cancer face numerous sources of stress and are at risk for emotional problems such as anxiety and depression. Parenting behavior and children’s coping are two important factors that may ...
-
Franks, Lindsey Diane (Vanderbilt University, 2008-04)Functional symptoms, defined as symptoms in the absence of organic disease, are common among pediatric patients. Parents of functional pain patients often experience great uncertainty regarding their children's health ...
-
Rector, Miranda (Vanderbilt University, 2008-05-20)The current study addresses the relationship between the parent's ability to speak about cancer related issues in a syntactically appropriate level for the child's age on the child's distress and coping as seen in the ...