Elsevier

The Journal of Pain

Volume 3, Issue 1, February 2002, Pages 58-64
The Journal of Pain

Original Reports
Psychosocial mediators of sex differences in pain responsivity,☆☆

https://doi.org/10.1054/jpai.2002.xb30066Get rights and content
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Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine gender role and primary pain appraisal as mediators of the relation between sex and pain responsivity in experimental pain. A sample of 145 introductory psychology students participated in a cold pressor task and completed inventories that assessed pain appraisal and gender role. Results showed that threat appraisals of pain and positive feminine gender role, in combination, mediate the relation between sex and experimental pain responsivity, suggesting that psychosocial variables play an important role in this relation. However, the influences of gender role and threat appraisal were relatively independent, suggesting that psychosocial mediators of the sex/pain relation are complex. © 2002 by the American Pain Society

Keywords

Sex
gender
pain
gender role
pain appraisal
cold pressor

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Address reprint requests to Beverly Thorn, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, PO Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348. E-mail: [email protected]

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1526-5900/02/0301-0009 $35.00/0