A scoping review of chronic pain in emerging adults

Abstract

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. The unique chronic pain experience in emerging adults (18–29 years) has not been widely studied. Here, we provide an integrated summary of the available evidence.

Cutting the cord? Parenting emerging adults with chronic pain

“…Although not conclusive and thought to be underestimated, a 2021 scoping review estimated prevalence rates of chronic pain in older adolescents and emerging adults (ages 18‐29 years) to be between 5% and 30%, depending on the sample and chronic pain definition used. 5 Females reported higher rates of pain compared to males. 90 Emerging adults require specific areas of focus in pain management interventions and may have unique vulnerabilities due to both physical challenges 91 and the stigma of living with chronic pain, an often invisible illness.…”

“…However, there is little understanding of how these factors may specifically impede the adolescent to emerging adulthood transition and the path to becoming an independent and autonomous adult. Although not conclusive and thought to be underestimated, a 2021 scoping review estimated prevalence rates of chronic pain in older adolescents and emerging adults (ages 18‐29 years) to be between 5% and 30%, depending on the sample and chronic pain definition used 5 . Females reported higher rates of pain compared to males 90 .…”

“… 1 , 2 With chronic pain occurring across the lifespan, many studies have focused on pain in children, adolescents, and adults while less is known specifically about pain during emerging adulthood. Research is gaining momentum, 3 , 4 , 5 but the experience of the emerging adult‐parent dyad has not been considered in the context of chronic pain, particularly with the emergence of a parenting style described as helicopter parenting. Often defined as an over‐involvement of parent(s) in the lives of their children, 6 helicopter parents have more recently been described by popular media as “snowplough” parents and “drone parents” 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 due to the intensity of the phenomenon growing overtime.…”

“… 90 Emerging adults require specific areas of focus in pain management interventions and may have unique vulnerabilities due to both physical challenges 91 and the stigma of living with chronic pain, an often invisible illness. 5 For example, unique biopsychosocial factors may contribute to the maintenance and/or exacerbation of chronic pain in emerging adults, 3 which have largely been ignored and treatments addressing the parent‐emerging adult‐child dyad do not exist. Emerging adults are not “big kids” nor are they, in most cases, fully independent adults completely separated from their parents.…”

Young female participants show blunted placebo effects associated with blunted responses to a cue predicting a safe stimulus in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

“…These findings suggest that the dl-PFC was less active in the young female group due to anxiety during the task, which might have reduced the pain reduction indices (placebo effects). Second, in young adults ranging from 18 to 29 years, critical development in the brain may occur particularly in the PFC regions responsible for higher cognitive functions including interference inhibition, decision-making, and response inhibition (Bunge et al, 2002;Scherf et al, 2006;Velanova et al, 2008;Brown et al, 2021). These PFC changes are associated with psycho-social changes of young individuals during this stage known as "emerging adulthood, " distinct from other life stages from a perspective of developmental psychology (Arnett et al, 2014).…”