Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the relationship between repeated momentary reports of stress and headaches in female adolescents with varying degrees of headache frequency.
Background: Headaches are the most common form of pain reported by adolescents affecting more than a third of all adolescents. High levels of stress during adolescence may predispose an adolescent to experience headaches in adulthood. Randomized, momentary data collection of stress and headaches provides the most accurate data regarding the adolescent experience of these variables.
Methods: The research methodology, ecological momentary assessment, is a valid approach to better understand the relationship between stress and headaches in adolescence. Data were obtained by each participant's use of an electronic diary (ED), which captured repeated momentary reports of perceived stress, head pain, and stress-related symptoms in female adolescents with varying degrees of recurrent headache. Seven times per day for the 21-day study period, teen girls responded to ED questions about their current stress levels, head pain, and stress-related symptoms. Based on participants' momentary reports of headaches, Low Headache, Moderate Headache, and Chronic Headache groups were created. General estimating equation models were used to analyze the relationship between momentary variables as well as the lag effect between stress and head pain.
Results: Thirty-one participants, aged 14-18 years, completed 2841 randomized ED reports and reported 674 occurrences of headache. The Chronic Headache and Moderate Headache groups reported significantly increased levels of stress, head pain, and headaches. The relationship between momentary stress and head pain was significantly strong both within and across participants. The strength of this relationship increased with increased headache activity. A significant lag effect was found between stress and headaches; however, the effect of depression as a moderator of the stress and headache relationship remains unclear.
Conclusion: Perceived stress and head pain was highly correlated in these female adolescents. Given the large population of teens affected by headaches, a plausible next step would be to validate these results in other samples and to determine methods with which to identify teens who may be at risk for a pattern of increasing stress and headaches.