title: State Versus Trait: Validating State Assessment of Child and Parental Catastrophic Thinking About Children's Acute Pain.
abstract: Pain catastrophizing has emerged as one of the most robust predictors of child pain outcomes. Although assessments of state (ie, situation-specific) pain catastrophizing in children and parents are often used, their psychometric properties are unknown. This study aimed to assess factor structure, reliability, and predictive validity of state versions of Pain Catastrophizing Scales for children and parents relative to corresponding trait versions for child and parental pain-related outcomes. Data were pooled from 8 experimental pain studies in which child and/or parent state catastrophizing (measured immediately before application of a pain stimulus) and trait catastrophizing were assessed in community-based samples of children aged 8 to 18 years (N = 689) and their parents (N = 888) in Dutch or English. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to examine the underlying factor structure of the state versions of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale for parents/children, revealing a single factor solution that explained 55.53% of the variance for children and 49.72% for parents. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to examine relative influence of state versus trait catastrophizing on child and parent pain-related outcomes. Child and parent state catastrophizing were significantly associated with child pain intensity, child state anxiety and parental distress. State catastrophizing scores showed stronger associations than trait scores for most outcomes.
  
  
  
  This article presents the psychometric properties of state pain catastrophizing measures for children and parents. Findings underscore the importance of assessing state pain catastrophizing about acute pain experiences in parents and children, and provide a basis for robust and valid measurement of state pain catastrophizing about child pain.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland; Centre for Pain Research, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. Electronic address: h.durand1@nuigalway.ie.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Durand
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Centre for Pediatric Pain Research, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Birnie
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Noel
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vervoort
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbet
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goubert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Centre for Pediatric Pain Research, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Katelynn E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Boerner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Centre for Pediatric Pain Research, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Christine T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland; Centre for Pain Research, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Line
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caes
mesh_terms: D059787:Acute Pain / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D058443:Catastrophization / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Pain catastrophizing; child pain; distress; measurement; parents