A canonical correlation analysis of the influence of neuroticism and extraversion on chronic pain, suffering, and pain behavior

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Abstract
Uation which included the Pain Experience visual analogue scales (VAS) (Price et al. 1983), NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) (Costa and McCrae 1985), and the Psychosocial Pain Inventory (PPI) (Getto and Heaton 1980). Canonical correlation was used to control for pain sensation intensity in evaluating affective dimensions of pain and to control for neuroticism in assessing effects of extraversion on different stages and dimensions of pain. Neither neuroticism nor extraversion were related to pain sensation intensity. Only neuroticism was associated with pain unpleasantness. Personality factors had their greatest impact on stages 3 (suffering) and 4 (illness behavior) of pain processing. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that life-long vulnerability to anxiety and depression is paramount in understanding the relationship between personality and suffering in chronic pain. These findings provide support for the idea that personality traits influence the ways in which people cognitively process the meanings that chronic pain holds for their life, and hence the extent to which they suffer. ∗Correspondence to: Dr. J.B. Wade, Medical College of Virginia, Box 268 MCV, Richmond, VA 23298-0268, USA. Tel.: (804) 786-0762. (Received 30 December 1991; revised 7 April 1992; accepted 13 April 1992.) ☆ Presented at the Meeting of the American Pain Society, New Orleans, LO, 1991. © Lippincott-Raven Publishers....