title: The buffering effect of family functioning on the psychological consequences of headache.
abstract: The current study aimed to examine whether high family functioning mitigates the association between headache intensity and distress. The sample consisted of 124 patients with chronic or recurrent headache. Patients completed validated questionnaires about headache intensity, family functioning, and distress. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to examine the interaction between headache intensity and family functioning on distress. Headache intensity was positively associated with distress (r = .28, p = .002). As hypothesized, family functioning moderated this association (B = -.01, p = .023). More specifically, the positive association between headache intensity and distress was significant only among patients with lower family functioning (B = .01, p < .001) and not among patients with higher levels of family functioning (B = .006, p = .075). Functional families appear to buffer the distress level in patients; they showed relatively low levels of distress regardless of the severity of their headache. In contrast, patients with dysfunctional families who experienced more pain reported more distress, presumably because they did not receive adequate help and support from these families. This study underlines the importance of a broader perspective on family dynamics in coping with pain.
authors.affiliation: a Health Psychology Section , University Medical Center Groningen (University of Groningen) , Groningen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Somayyeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: b Family Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University , Tehran , Iran.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zandieh
authors.affiliation: c Faculty of Education and Psychology , Shahid Beheshti University , Tehran , Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dehghani
authors.affiliation: d Department of Neurology , Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran.
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Assarzadegan
authors.affiliation: a Health Psychology Section , University Medical Center Groningen (University of Groningen) , Groningen , The Netherlands.|e Department of Psychology, Health and Technology , University of Twente , Enschede , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robbert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanderman
authors.affiliation: a Health Psychology Section , University Medical Center Groningen (University of Groningen) , Groningen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mariët
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagedoorn
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Headache intensity; distress; family functioning; moderating role