Do future time perspective and sex explain age differences in pain perception and the goals of adults with chronic joint pain?

Do future time perspective and sex explain age differences in pain perception and the goals of adults with chronic joint pain?

Experience can change beliefs and expectations. However, little is known about how experiencing chronic pain affects pain beliefs and expectations and how changed pain beliefs and expectations affect pain level. Thes tudy explored the relationships between chronic pain, age, sex, future time perspective(FTP), catastrophisation, fear of pain, hypervigilance, and pain level, and pain and goals. Two studies were completed. In Study 1, 194 adults with chronic pain and 190 adults without chronic pain completed measures of catastrophisation, fear of pain, hypervigilance, and FTP. Three-way ANOVAs revealed no sex or age differences in catastrophisation, nor in hypervigilance in the non-pain adults, but there were age-sex differences in the chronic pain group. In fear of pain, there were age differences between the sexes but not between pain groups. Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed that as age advanced, FTP became more limited in females with and without chronic pain, but this trend was not seen in males. A hierarchical regression revealed age, catastrophisation, and fear of pain explained pain levels in the sample. Study 2 was a mixed-methods study of 23 older adults with chronic pain and it revealed pain does not affect goals, and the participants desired social connection and freely chosen activity. The results of Study 1 indicated that the psychology of chronic pain is affected by chronic pain, there are differences between males and females, and that FTP and sex did not explain pain perception. Study 2 supported the hypothesis that an imagined future is more positive than the present. The implications for pain and adult development, research, and clinical practice are discussed.