Shiva Jalivand Qazvini - MA student of clinical psychology, Islamic Azad University of Sari, Mazandaran, Iran
Farshad Hasanzadeh Kiaperi - Associate professor at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences
Bahram Mirzaian - Associate professor in clinical psychology, Islamic Azad University of Sari, Mazandaran, Iran

The study aimed at investigating the relationship between personality traits, coping strategies and pain catastrophizing in patients with chronicpain. The study adopted a descriptive-correlational approach as its methodology. The population of the study consisted of patients with chronicpain who referred to a pain clinic centerof Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences among whom 100 personswere randomly selected. Thedata gathering tools included NEO Personality Inventory with 60 questions, Rosenstiel and Keefe’s 42-item questionnaire on coping strategiesas well as a Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) with 13 questions developed by Sullivan, Bishop and Pivik the reliabilitiesof which wereestimatedthrough Cronbach s alpha which were equal to 0/79,0/86 and 0/66, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysiswere used for data analysis.The results showed that there was a relationship between features such as extraversion, agreeableness,conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness and pain catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain. There were also some relations betweencognitive and behavioral coping strategies and pain catastrophizingin such patients (patients with chronic pain). The share of each of thesecomponents of personality traits and coping strategies on predicting the pain catastrophizing in patients with chronic pain was different. Andthe variable of extraversion (98%) and behavioral strategies (39%) were the highest in predicting the pain catastrophizing in patients with chronicpain.

personality traits, coping strategies, pain catastrophizing, patients