Pain Catastrophizing and Its Relationship with Health Outcomes: Does Pain Intensity Matter?

Table 1

Hierarchical regression analysis for the prediction of pain interference, physical components of health, and the mental health composite.

	Pain interference		Physical Functioning		Role Physical		General Health		Mental Composite
	β		β		β		β		β
Block 1
Pain intensity
Block 2
Pain intensity							−.1		−.04
Pain catastrophizing
Block 3										<.001
Pain intensity									−.04
Pain catastrophizing
Pain intensity × Pain catastrophizing									−.01
Block 4		.011						.007
Pain intensity									−.05
Pain catastrophizing
Pain intensity × pain catastrophizing			.06						.03
Recruitment site	−.05				.10		.08		−.09
Age					.04		.08
Sex	−.04		−.06		<.01		<.01		−.05
Job status	−.06						<.01		−.07
Marital status	−.02		.04		−.06		−.03		.10
Educational level	−.05		.01		−.07		.04		.02
Psychopathology	.07		<.01		<.01		−.11
Pain duration (years)	<.01		.06		.05		−.03		−.04
Total R^2		.620		.431		.418		.450		.435

Note. Beta values are standardized. Reported Δ is adjusted and represents the change in for each block. Pain intensity and pain catastrophizing were centered. The covariates were entered in the last block to explore whether the interaction term in block 3 remained significant when controlling for important covariates of health status. Categorical variables in block 4 were coded as follows: recruitment site (0 = tertiary pain clinic; 1 = primary care), sex (0 = men; 1 = women), job status (0 = not working; 1 = working), marital status (0 = not married; 1 = married), educational level (0 = less than 12 years of education; 1 = more than 12 years of education), and psychopathology (0 = no diagnosis of depression or anxiety; 1 = diagnosis of depression or anxiety).
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