Abstract
Although biopsychosocial models of pain have recognized the role of affective responses, prior work has focused on actual affect. No research has explored ideal and avoided affect and their associations with pain experience among chronic pain patients. The present study addressed these gaps by exploring interindividual variations in affective goals, actual affect, and their associations with chronic pain coping, catastrophizing, and intensity. We tested 148 participants aged 45–94 (77% female, 80% non-Hispanic White) and assessed their baseline affective goals and pain experience. For the following week, we administered daily surveys which measured participants’ actual affect and pain experiences over the past day. As expected, actual affect was significantly associated with pain experiences. We also found that in general, smaller ideal-actual and larger avoided-actual affect discrepancies are associated with more adaptive coping and lower pain intensity. Implications for the role of affective goals in chronic pain experience and management are discussed.