The ideas of 680 Irish schoolchildren aged 5-14 years about the causality of pain were studied as part of a wider investigation of children's understanding of pain. The results indicated an association between pain and 'transgression' consonant with the literature on children's beliefs about the causality of illness, but not reported in previous studies of children's ideas about pain. Developmental patterns were also noted in the data and one significant sex difference consistent with a previously reported trend.