Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-6-2020
School
Psychology
Abstract
Introduction: Native Americans (NAs) have a higher prevalence of chronic pain than other US racial/ethnic groups, but the mechanisms contributing to this pain disparity are under-researched. Pain catastrophizing is one of the most important psychosocial predictors of negative pain outcomes, and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) has been established as a reliable and valid measure of the pain catastrophizing construct. However, before the PCS can be used to study pain risk in NAs, it is prudent to first determine whether the established 3-factor structure of the PCS also holds true for NAs.
Methods: The current study examined the measurement (configural, metric, and scalar) invariance of the PCS in a healthy, pain-free sample of 138 NA and 144 non-Hispanic white (NHW) participants.
Results: Results suggest that the previously established 3-factor solution fits for both groups (configural invariance) and that the factor loadings were equivalent across groups (metric invariance). Scalar invariance was also established, except for 1 minor scalar difference in a single threshold for item 3 (suggesting NHWs were more likely to respond with a 4 on that item than NAs).
Discussion: Results provide additional evidence for the psychometric properties of the PCS and suggest it can be used to study pain catastrophizing in healthy, pain-free NA samples.
Publication Title
Journal of Pain Research
Volume
13
First Page
961
Last Page
969
Recommended Citation
Rhudy, J. L.,
Arnau, R. D.,
Huber, F. A.,
Lannon, E. W.,
Kuhn, B. L.,
Palit, S.,
Payne, M. F.,
Sturycz, C. A.,
Hellman, N.,
Gureca, Y. M.,
Toledo, T. A.,
Shadlow, J. O.
(2020). Examining Configural, Metric, and Scalar Invariance of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale In Native American and Non-Hispanic White Adults In the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Risk (OK-SNAP). Journal of Pain Research, 13, 961-969.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/17477