Flor H, Kerns R D, Turk D C
J Psychosom Res. 1987;31(2):251-9. doi: 10.1016/0022-3999(87)90082-1.
Levels of pain, activity, marital satisfaction, and contingent reinforcement for expressions of pain and suffering were assessed in chronic pain patients. In addition, spouses' marital satisfaction, mood, life control, and self-reported responses to the patient's pain were examined. Multiple regression analyses revealed that spouse reinforcement of overt expressions of pain was significantly related to both perceived pain and activity levels of chronic pain patients. The best predictor of patients' pain and activity levels was patients' perception of spouse reinforcement, followed by spouses' self-reported responses to the patients' pain. Spouse reinforcement of pain was not associated with spouses' marital satisfaction or perception of patients' pain levels. Rather, spouse reinforcement was associated with high interference of patients' pain with spouses' lives, spouses' positive mood, spouses' perception of more life control, as well as longer duration of the pain problem. The data support the importance of the spouse as a potential source of reinforcement of pain behavior.
对慢性疼痛患者的疼痛程度、活动情况、婚姻满意度以及对疼痛和痛苦表达的偶然强化进行了评估。此外，还考察了配偶的婚姻满意度、情绪、生活掌控感以及自我报告的对患者疼痛的反应。多元回归分析显示，配偶对明显疼痛表达的强化与慢性疼痛患者的感知疼痛和活动水平均显著相关。患者疼痛和活动水平的最佳预测指标是患者对配偶强化的感知，其次是配偶自我报告的对患者疼痛的反应。配偶对疼痛的强化与配偶的婚姻满意度或对患者疼痛程度的感知无关。相反，配偶的强化与患者疼痛对配偶生活的高度干扰、配偶的积极情绪、配偶对更多生活掌控的感知以及疼痛问题的持续时间较长有关。这些数据支持了配偶作为疼痛行为潜在强化源的重要性。
