Maternal attributions for the causes and remedies of their children's abdominal pain.

OBJECTIVE To examine mothers' attributions for the causes and remedies of their children's abdominal pain, specifically whether attributions differed according to child diagnosis, reflected a dualistic or multidimensional view of pain, and changed following medical evaluation. METHODS Mothers of children whose medical evaluation indicated peptic disease (n = 55) or unexplained pain without identifiable organic disease (n = 98) participated in telephone interviews prior to their children's medical evaluations and one year later. RESULTS About half of the mothers in each group endorsed both psychosocial and physical factors as important in the etiology of their children's abdominal pain. Following medical evaluation, mothers in both groups tended to maintain their attributions regarding the importance of psychosocial factors. CONCLUSIONS Many mothers acknowledged the contribution of psychosocial factors to their children's abdominal pain. They may be receptive to behavioral interventions if physicians present these remedies as an integral component of treatment.