To Örebro University

Adolescents with chronic pain (ACPs) often experience impairments in their social functioning. Little is known about the consequences of these impairments on ACPs’ peer relationships. The current study applied social network analysis to examine whether adolescents with more pain problems are less popular (RQ1), whether adolescents with similar pain problems name each other more often as being part of the same peer group (RQ2), whether dyads with an adolescent having more pain problems report less positive (e.g., support) and more negative (e.g., conflict) friendship quality (RQ3), and whether positive and negative friendship quality moderate the relationship between pain and emotional distress (RQ4).

The current study utilized data from the first wave of a longitudinal study (N= 2767). This study followed Swedish adolescents from 19 public schools. For RQ1-3 Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure was applied. For RQ4 standard multilevel models with observations of adolescents nested within schools were estimated.

RESULTS: showed that ACPs were not less popular than adolescents without chronic pain. Second, ACPs nominated each other more often as being part of the same peer group. Third, results regarding friendship quality showed that adolescents with more pain problems perceived the relationship with their friends as less positive (e.g., support) and more negative (e.g., conflict) than adolescents with less pain problems. Finally, positive and negative friendship quality moderated the relationship between pain and emotional distress.The current study contributes to the literature on the importance of ACPs' peer relationships. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.