Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41485409›Full record

ArticleJournal of psychosomatic research2026

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

Sarah B Woods, Bhaskar Thakur, Staja Booker, Beatrice Wood, Patricia N E Roberson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of psychosomatic research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Sarah B WoodsUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Dallas, TX, USA. Electronic address: Sarah.Woods@UTSouthwestern.edu.
Bhaskar ThakurUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Dallas, TX, USA.
Staja BookerUniversity of Florida, College of Nursing, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Beatrice WoodUniversity at Buffalo, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Buffalo, TN, USA.
Patricia N E RobersonUniversity of Tennessee Knoxville, College of Nursing, Knoxville, TN, USA; University of Tennesse Health Science Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Knoxville, TN, USA.

Funding

Using Secondary Analyses to Test Novel Pathways Linking Family Stress and Pain Incidence and Persistence Among African AmericansR21AG082344 · NIA · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · PI WOODS, SARAH B. · 2022 to 2022
$462k
NIA NIH HHS R21 AG082344
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveFamily relationship quality has been linked to pain outcomes, recently for aging Black adults, yet possible mechanisms of effect remain heretofore untested. Guided by the Biobehavioral Family Model, this study tested whether depressive symptoms mediate prospective associations between family emotional climate and pain prevalence, and whether associations are moderated by baseline chronic pain status.

methodsWe tested hypothesized associations among Black American participants of the nationally representative Midlife in the United States study (second [2004-2006] and third [2013-2015] waves) who reported on pain prevalence (N = 471; 65.2 % women; μ[age] = 50.45), using mediation and moderated mediation models.

resultsGreater family strain was linked to a greater likelihood of chronic pain 10 years later via greater depressive symptoms. Greater family support was associated with a decreased likelihood of chronic pain via decreased depressive symptoms. Baseline chronic pain status moderated this indirect effect via its moderation of the direct link between family support and depressive symptoms, such that this effect was significantly stronger for individuals reporting baseline chronic pain.

conclusionDepression 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.

Indexed as

Black or African AmericanChronic PainDepressionEmotionsFamilyFamily RelationsAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrevalenceSocial SupportUnited StatesWhiteAgingBiobehavioral modelBlack or African AmericanChronic painDepressive symptomsFamily relations

Identifiers

PMID41485409
PMCPMC12951712

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.