Profiles of Women With Fibromyalgia and Social Comparison Processes

M Carmen Terol Cantero; Abraham P Buunk; Victor Cabrera; Miguel Bernabé; Maite Martin-Aragón Gelabert

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00440

Profiles of Women With Fibromyalgia and Social Comparison Processes

Front Psychol. 2020 Mar 13:11:440. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00440. eCollection 2020.

Authors

M Carmen Terol Cantero^{1

2}, Abraham P Buunk², Victor Cabrera³, Miguel Bernabé⁴, Maite Martin-Aragón Gelabert¹

Affiliations

¹ Departamento Ciencias del Comportamiento y Salud, Facultad Ciencias Sociosanitarias, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain.
² Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
³ Departamento de Psicología de la Salud, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain.
⁴ Departamento de Psicología Social y de las Organizaciones, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

Background: Due to uncertainty regarding chronic pain in Fibromyalgia (FM) patients, there has been a growing interest in social comparison and its influence on emotional responses.

Aims: to analyze profiles in FM patients according to pain perception, social comparison strategies and anxiety and depression.

Methods: The sample consisted of 131 FM outpatients (Mean age: 50.15, SD = 11.1). Two scales were used: the Social Comparison Illness Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Results: Two profiles were found by cluster analysis (K-means method): one (66%) with a higher level of pain perception, anxiety and depression and greater use of upward contrast and downward identification social comparison; and another (34%) with lower levels of pain perception, anxiety and depression and greater use of upward identification and downward contrast.

Conclusion: These profiles underline the interest in social comparison strategies and their role in FM.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; fibromyalgia; patient profiles; social comparison.