title: Pain catastrophizing and employment histories.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies examining pain catastrophizing and employment have had mixed findings. No study of pain catastrophizing has examined its relationship to lifetime employment status in a general clinical population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine pain catastrophizing in relationship to lifetime employment functioning in a sample of US primary care patients (rather than injured workers).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional anonymous self-report survey of consecutive adults in a US internal medicine outpatient clinic. We assessed pain catastrophizing using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and employment histories using a four-item author-developed measure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 239 participants and an initial participation rate of 70%. While pain catastrophizing was not related to the number of different full-time jobs held or the percentage of time employed in adulthood, pain catastrophizing was statistically significantly associated with ever having been paid 'under the table' [F(1,236) = 27.89, P < 0.001] and ever having been fired from a job [F(1,237) = 50.78, P < 0.001], as well as with not getting along with fellow employees [F(1,60) = 7.48, P < 0.01].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this clinical sample, pain catastrophizing demonstrated varying relationships with different aspects of lifetime employment, rather than exerting an overall global effect on employment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH 45417, USA, Department Psychiatry Education, Kettering Medical Center, Kettering, OH 45429, USA, Randy.sansone@khnetwork.org.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sansone
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH 45417, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Relations, Columbia College, Columbia, SC 29203, USA.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Wiederman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D058443:Catastrophization; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Employment; Pain Catastrophizing Scale; pain; pain catastrophizing; work.