Momentary and lagged associations between purpose in life and pain intensity in daily life

Abstract

Purpose in life is associated with less pain intensity when measured between-person. The present research used a micro-longitudinal study to examine the dynamic, within-person association between purpose and pain in daily life. Participants (N = 303; M_age = 51.71, range 40–70) reported on their purpose and pain three times a day for 8 days. Multilevel modeling indicated that in moments when participants felt more purpose-driven than their average, they had less pain (b = −0.03, SE = 0.008, p < 0.001), and in moments when participants reported more pain than their average, they felt less purpose-driven (b = −0.07, SE = 0.02, p < 0.001), controlling for sociodemographic, temporal, and contextual covariates. Dynamic structural equation modeling indicated no lagged effects to the next measurement occasion in either direction. This pattern suggests that purpose and pain are dynamically related within person in the moment but not across measurement occasions. Experimental studies are now needed to evaluate the causal effects of purpose on pain and pain on purpose.