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Affect, work-goal schemas, and work-goal striving among adults with chronic pain: a multilevel structural equation analysis

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Abstract

For individuals with chronic pain, the within-person influence of affect and goal cognition on daily work-related goal striving is not yet well understood. The present study tested the hypothesis that anticipatory goal cognition in the form of a morning work goal schema mediates the relations between morning affect and later (afternoon and evening) work goal striving. Working adults with chronic pain (N = 131) completed a 21-day diary with morning, afternoon, and evening assessments analyzed via multi-level structural equation modeling. At the within-person level, morning positive and negative affect were positively associated with morning work goal schemas; and morning work goal schemas, in turn, positively predicted both afternoon and evening work goal striving. Our findings underscore the complex dynamics over time of the relationship between affect and self-regulatory processes and have implications for future studies and for interventions to assist working adults with chronic pain.

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Notes

  1. The PCP:S chronic pain severity cut off scores are as follows: age 25–44 (male: 10.74 and female: 11.38); age 44–65 (male: 11.38 and female: 13.17); age 65–80 (male: 9.25 and female: 12.74).

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Source of funding

Paul Karoly is a co-developer of the Profile of Chronic Pain: Screen used in the present study. This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Nursing Research Grant 5-R21NR010752-02 awarded to Paul Karoly and Morris Okun.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA

    Chung Jung Mun, Paul Karoly, Morris A. Okun & Hanjoe Kim

  2. University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, 06032, USA

    Howard Tennen

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  1. Chung Jung Mun
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  2. Paul Karoly
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  3. Morris A. Okun
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Correspondence to Chung Jung Mun.

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Conflict of interest

Chung Jung Mun, Paul Karoly, Morris A. Okun, Hanjoe Kim and Howard Tennen declared that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Mun, C.J., Karoly, P., Okun, M.A. et al. Affect, work-goal schemas, and work-goal striving among adults with chronic pain: a multilevel structural equation analysis. J Behav Med 39, 288–299 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9696-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9696-4

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