COPING WITH CHRONIC PAIN - SOURCES OF INTRINSIC AND CONTEXTUAL VARIABILITY

Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to investigate intrinsi c and contextual sources of coping variability among 90 patients with chronic pain. Pain coping strategies were assessed by the subscales of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire. Intrinsic variables included dem ographic characteristics and dispositional optimism. Contextual variab les included pain-related variables and pain control appraisals. In un ivariate analyses, ethnicity was a statistically significant intrinsic source of variability for the praying and hoping coping subscale; how ever, comparisons between pairs of ethnic groups were not statisticall y significant. A multivariate perspective of the data found three inde pendent and salient patterns of correlation between the intrinsic and contextual variables and coping subscales. These patterns of correlati on accounted for 96% of the total variance and were conceptualized as optimistic active coping, educated rational coping, and optimistic res tricted coping. The findings raise the prospect that there are intrins ic and contextual explanations of coping variability for patients with chronic pain.