| Description |
Chronic pain impacts the physical, psychological, behavioral, and relational landscape of both the patient and the spouse. The study examined how both patient and spouse appraisals of pain severity and control were associated with adjustment for marital couples of varying ages across adulthood. Fifty couples where one member had chronic back pain completed measures of appraisals of pain and controllability and adjustment. Results revealed that individual patient and spouse appraisals of higher pain were associated with patient psychological distress, higher pain behavior reports by both patients and spouses, and higher reported spouse criticism for patients. For individual control appraisals, lower patient and spouse control appraisals were associated with lower psychological distress for patients, lower pain behavior reports by patients and spouse, and higher patient reported criticism. Dyadic effects were also observed. Higher patient pain was associated with higher spouse reports of support and criticism when spouses also appraised high pain. Lower patient appraisals of control were associated with patient reports of lower spouse support when spouse appraised higher control. We found interactions with age suggesting that higher patient pain was associated with higher patient psychological distress and lower patient pain appraisals were associated with lower spouse reports of supportive responses in younger couples. |
