Family emotional climate, depressive symptoms, and pain prevalence: Testing mediation pathways among midlife and older Black Americans

Depression is well-supported as a chronic pain antecedent. This study provides initial evidence it may also serve as a mutable mechanism linking family emotional climate to pain for aging Black Americans. Primary care-based assessments of family emotional climate to intervene on family strain while mitigating depressive symptoms which reflect chronic strain may be pain-protective. Interventions may also benefit from enhancing family support especially for patients experiencing chronic pain. Additional within-group, longitudinal research is needed to further support the tested mechanism.