Kraaimaat F W, Van Schevikhoven R E
Psychiatric Clinic, National University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Behav Med. 1988 Jun;11(3):293-302. doi: 10.1007/BF00844434.
In the present study the relationship between attributions of causality and pain-coping behavior in headache patients was examined. Data from 441 chronic headache sufferers were collected by means of self-report inventories. The most frequently reported causal attributions were hereditary factors, emotional distress, menses or menopause, an overactive life-style, weather conditions, nutrition, and physical exertion. Some support was found for a hypothesized association between physically and psychologically related causal attributions and allied pain-coping behavior. However, as far as a relationship was revealed, it served to explain only less than 2% of the variance in pain-coping behavior. It is concluded that causal attributions do not contribute to the understanding of pain-coping behavior in chronic headache sufferers.
