Examining the Role of Pain in the Link Between Early Childhood Adversity and Psychopathology

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of physical pain in the link between childhood adversity and later psychopathology. Children who are participating in a larger longitudinal study will be asked to submerge their hand in cold water and hold it in the cold water as long as possible. Participants will do this twice, once alone and once holding the hand of their parent, to examine the role of parental support in pain development. The study will examine self-report of pain and salivary cortisol response to pain. It is hypothesized that children who have been exposed to more adversity will experience increased pain response and increased psychopathology symptoms. It is expected that higher social support in the family will decrease this relationship.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Child Development
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Parental Support Cold Pressor Task

Detailed Description

This study will initiate a program of prospective research, linking early life adversity to both pain and psychopathology symptoms in the pre-adolescent period. This study will examine these links using an existing longitudinal sample of 6.5-9.5 year-old children experiencing familial stress. The project will examine the relationship between dysregulation and pain sensitivity from the behavioral perspective, but also through HPA axis dysregulation. Finally, the project will probe parental support as a moderator on the relationship between dysregulation and pain and psychopathology symptoms. The project will use a novel adaptation of the cold pressor test to examine experimental pain sensitivity as a function of parental support by including a condition in which the child holds the hand of their parent during the task. The project will also examine the neural basis of social support through parent-child brain synchronization. Support for the proposed model may indicate that interventions that increase parental support might decrease both pain and psychopathology.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 39
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Missouri
    • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63108
      • Laboratory for Child Brain Development

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects who have been enrolled in our ongoing CARE study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects who have not participated in the CARE study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Pain Assessment; Children will submerge their hand in cold water and be asked to hold it in as long as possible. They will do this both alone and holding the hand of a parent (counterbalanced).	Behavioral: Parental Support Cold Pressor Task; Child will submerge their hand in cold water alone and holding the hand of a parent.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pain Tolerance	Time hand is held in cold water	0-120 seconds
Pain Sensitivity	Self-reported score on the Visual Analogue Scale for Pain. Participants use a physical sliding scale to indicate how much pain they experienced [ higher numbers are equal to more pain; (no pain (0-4 mm), mild pain(5-44 mm), moderate pain (45-74 mm), and severe pain (75-100 mm)]	0-60 seconds after experiencing stimulus

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine
• Collaborators: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 23, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): March 23, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 22, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 31, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): June 6, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 27, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pain; Early Life Adversity
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: 202312107; UL1TR002345 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No