10.3205/PSM000079
Kröner-Herwig, Birgit
Birgit
Kröner-Herwig
Gaßmann, Jennifer
Jennifer
Gaßmann
Tromsdorf, Marie
Marie
Tromsdorf
Zahrend, Elfi
Elfi
Zahrend
The effects of sex and gender role on responses to pressure pain
German Medical Science GMS Publishing House
2012
JournalArticle
gender role
sex
pain responsiveness
fear of pain
610 Medical sciences; Medicine
2012-02-28
2012
en
urn:nbn:de:0183-psm0000792
psm000079
text/html
GMS Psycho-Social-Medicine; 9:Doc01; ISSN 1860-5214
Background: Several studies on experimental mechanical pain suggested a strong influence of sex demonstrating females to be more sensitive. We examined the hypothesis that not only sex but also gender role affects pain responsiveness and looked for mediators of this effect.
Method: As indicators of pain the threshold the intensity and the unpleasantness of pressure stimuli were measured, as well as sensory and affective quality of pain. The gender role of 74 students was assessed by the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). Furthermore several psychological variables assumed to be potential mediators (catastrophising, fear of pain, depressive symptoms, pain coping) were obtained.
Results: ANOVA revealed significant main effects of sex in all pain variables except affective quality of pain. Contrary to our hypothesis gender role had no influence on pain responses, neither was there an interaction of sex and gender. Fear of pain just missed the significance level identifying it as mediator of the sex effect on affective pain.
Conclusions: In summary, our study corroborated previous findings that women are more responsive to mechanical pain stimuli with effect sizes being medium to large, whereas gender role did not predict any of the assessed pain parameters. No convincing evidence was found that the influence of sex is predominantly mediated by psychological characteristics of the individual.
GMS Psycho-Social-Medicine; 9:Doc01; ISSN 1860-5214