Parental Influence on Children's Chronic Abdominal Pain Experiences: Exploring the Relationship between Parental Protective Behaviors and Child Quality of Life

Abstract

Initial studies examining relationships between parent behaviors and child functioning in chronic pain populations have documented positive associations between parental protective behaviors and child somatic complaints, emotional difficulties (e.g., anxiety, depression), and functional disability. The current study attempts fills existing gaps in this literature by examining the relationship between two specific types of parental protective behaviors (i.e., provision of attention and activity restriction) and Quality of Life (QoL) in a clinical population of children with chronic abdominal pain, while including age and gender as potential moderators. Medical records from initial evaluation at a tertiary pain clinic were reviewed for 430 child and adolescent chronic abdominal pain patients. Parent-reported protective behaviors were assessed via the Illness Behavior Encouragement Scale (IBES; Walker & Zeman, 1992) and QoL was assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Version 4.0 (PedsQL 4.0; Varni, Seid, & Kurtin, 2001). Simple and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships among variables of interest. Results support previous findings that indicate the importance of parental protective behavior in predicting child functioning and extend previous findings to include multiple types of protective behavior and domains of child functioning. Age and gender differences in these relationships are noted. By identifying specific parental behaviors associated with particularly negative child QoL, the reported results provide information relevant to the development of targeted and effective parent education programs for families coping with a child with chronic pain and directions for future research within the field.