Maternal and child emotional regulation in paediatric chronic pain

Pain is influenced by biological, social, emotional and cognitive factors. Emotions are not simply a consequence of pain but rather a fundamental part of the pain experience. In addition, the social context cannot be isolated when constructing the meaning of the child's pain, and in understanding the influence of mother-child interactions on children's physiology. This research consists of two studies, study one investigated the relationship between anxiety, depression and physical functioning in children and adolescents experiencing chronic pain. The participants were 73 childen and adolescents who were referred to either the Children's Pain Management Clinic at the Royal Children's Hospital or the Sydney Westmead Children's Hospital aged between 7-18 years old. The results indicated that these young people were reporting anxiety and depression within the normal range with significant anxiety and depression levels both below prevalent rates found in the normal population. Furthermore, depression but not anxiety was associated with increasing leves of physical disablity in children and adolescents. This led to the investigation of the relationship between maternal emotions on children and adolescents' anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms and physical functioing in children and adolescents experiencing chronic pain..