Adult pain linked to bad behaviour

Children with behavioural problems at school are more than twice as likely to suffer chronic pain in adulthood, researchers said.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Mar 2010, 21:58 BST
Updated 9th Mar 2010, 21:58 BST

Experts believe there could be a biological link between poor behaviour and the pain experienced by some people.

More than 18,000 children, born in one week in 1958 from across the UK, were examined for the study, published in the journal Rheumatology.

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Another 920 children born in the same week overseas who came to the UK before they were 16 were also included in the study.

A variety of information was collected on the children at the age of seven, 11 and 16, and again at 42 and 45.

The study found that chronic widespread pain was slightly more common in women (13 per cent) than in men (12 per cent).

Those youngsters whose teachers had highlighted severe and continuous behavioural problems aged seven, 11 and 16 were more than twice as likely to suffer the pain as adults than well-behaved children.

Other studies have suggested a link between poor behaviour in childhood and psychological problems in later life.