Maternal depression, parenting, and child psychological outcomes in the context of maternal pain

Abstract

Parental chronic pain is associated with adverse outcomes in children, but the mechanisms of transmission are largely untested. Mothers with chronic pain (N = 400, M_age = 40.3 years, 90.5% White) and their children (M_age = 10.33 years, 83.3% White, 50.2% female) were recruited in 2016–2018 to test longitudinal pathways of risk transmission from maternal chronic pain to children's psychological symptoms, examining roles of parenting, maternal depression, and child distress tolerance. Maternal pain was associated with positive (β = .28) and pain-specific (β = .10) parenting behaviors. Maternal depression was associated with lower child distress tolerance (β = −.03), which was associated with greater child psychological symptoms (β = −.62). Parenting and maternal pain were not prospectively associated with child outcomes. When considering the dual-generational impacts of chronic pain, physical and psychological functioning should be examined.