title: Postoperative pain in children: association between anxiety sensitivity, pain catastrophizing, and female caregivers' responses to children's pain.
abstract: This study investigated the association between anxiety sensitivity and pain catastrophizing in children, caregivers' anxiety sensitivity and catastrophizing about children's pain and responses to children's pain, pain intensity reported by children, and pain intensity estimated by caregivers. The participants were 102 children scheduled for outpatient surgery and their female caregivers. Before the operation, caregivers' catastrophizing about children's pain, children's pain catastrophizing, and their anxiety sensitivity were assessed, as well as caregivers' responses to children's pain. Pain intensity reported by children and estimated by caregivers was evaluated after the operation and 24 hours afterward. Analyses were performed via path analysis. The results indicated that children and caregivers characterized by higher levels of anxiety sensitivity reported higher levels of pain catastrophizing and catastrophic thinking about children's pain, respectively. Caregivers with higher levels of catastrophic thinking about the children's pain reported higher levels of solicitousness and higher estimations of the children's pain intensity after the operation. Higher levels of children's pain catastrophizing were associated with more frequent responses of discouragement and higher pain intensity reported after the operation. These findings highlight the relevance of catastrophizing about children's pain and children's pain catastrophizing in the experience of postoperative pain in children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Path analysis was used to test a hypothetical model of the associations between anxiety sensitivity, catastrophizing, parental responses, and postoperative pain in children. The results highlight the association between children's and parents' pain catastrophizing and discouragement and solicitous responses and the role of anxiety sensitivity as a traitlike factor associated with catastrophizing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments, School of Psychology, University of Málaga, Spain.. Electronic address: zarazaga@uma.es.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Esteve
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, School of Health Sciences Dr Francisco Virgilio Battistini Casalta, University of Oriente, Núcleo Bolívar, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marquina-Aponte
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments, School of Psychology, University of Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Maestre
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D058443:Catastrophization; D002648:Child; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011581:Psychological Tests
keywords: Pain catastrophizing; anxiety sensitivity; children; parental responses; postoperative pain