The relationship between Pain catastrophizing and Depression in chronically ill adolescents: How does it change from early to mid-adolescence

Abstract

This thesis explores the longitudinal relationship between depression and pain catastrophizing in adolescents with chronic illnesses. Utilizing data from 100 participants in the PROactive cohort study, it examines how these psychological constructs interact over time from early adolescence (age 12) to mid-adolescence (age 14). The Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Children (PCS-C) and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) were used to measure the psychological constructs The study employs cross-lagged panel models to investigate whether depression at age 12 predicts pain catastrophizing at age 14 and vice versa. Initial results suggested a bidirectional predictive relationship; however, after controlling for the autoregressive effects of each construct, the predictive paths between depression and pain catastrophizing were not significant. This indicates that the observed relationships can be explained by the stability of the variables over time rather than a direct influence on each other. The findings indicate that early interventions targeting both depression and pain catastrophizing are crucial, but these interventions should consider the stability and overlapping nature of these psychological constructs. Emphasis is put in the need for targeted interventions that attend psychological and physical well-being of chronically ill adolescents, in order to improve their long-term outcomes.