Chronic pain and self-efficacy: the effects of age, sex, and chronicity.

Higher self-efficacy (SE) is associated with lower pain ratings in chronic pain patients, although longer experience with chronic pain leads to lower SE scores. Self-efficacy in pain patients does not appear to be clearly related to sex or age, however. This study investigated the effects of gender, age, length of pain experience (chronicity) on SE and pain ratings. Archival data from the records of 187 patient's charts were evaluated for demographic information, chronicity, pain ratings and SE. Analyses found a significant inverse relationship between SE and pain ratings (r = -.22) and lower SE for young adult patients. Results support the conclusion that enhanced SE is an important psychosocial intervention in the treatment of chronic pain patients.