Document Type

Article

Abstract

Researchers have become increasingly interested in the social context of chronic pain conditions. The purpose of this article is to provide an integrated review of the evidence linking marital functioning with chronic pain outcomes including pain severity, physical disability, pain behaviors, and psychological distress. We first present an overview of existing models that identify an association between marital functioning and pain variables. We then review the empirical evidence for a relationship between pain variables and several marital functioning variables including marital satisfaction, spousal support, spouse responses to pain, and marital interaction. On the basis of the evidence, we present a working model of marital and pain variables, identify gaps in the literature, and offer recommendations for research and clinical work.

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

This article is the author's manuscript and was previously published in final edited form as: J Pain. 2006 June ; 7(6): 377-390.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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