Gender, coping and the perception of pain

Abstract

Research consistently indicates that gender differences exist in pain perception, with females typically reporting more negative responses to pain than males. It also seems as if males and females use and benefit from different coping strategies when under stress; females seem to prefer emotion-focused coping, whereas males prefer sensory-focused coping. Unfortunately, experimental research that examines such differences in the context of pain has not yet been adequately investigated. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to determine whether gender differences would be found in the effect that sensory-focused and emotion-focused coping instructions have on cold pressor pain experiences. Participants consisted of 24 male and 26 female healthy adults, all of whom reported no current pain. A consistent pattern of effects was found, over both behavioural and self-report measures of pain. Compared to females, males exhibited less negative pain responses when focusing on the sensory component of pain (i.e. increased threshold, tolerance and lower sensory pain). Furthermore, compared to sensory focusing, emotional focusing was found to increase the affective pain experience of females. Together these results confirm that important differences exist between men and women in the effects pain coping instructions have on the experience of pain. The implications of such findings for research and practice are discussed.

Psychometric properties of pain intensity scales comparing among postoperative adult patients, elderly patients without and with mild cognitive impairment in China

“…One study by Keogh and Herdenfeldt (2002) showed that pain coping instructions had different effects on the pain experience of males and females.…”

Changes in self-perceived role identity modulate pain perception

“…The effect of self-perceived role identity on pain perception, here defined as the product of the brain's abstraction and elaboration of a nociceptive input (Basbaum and Jessell, 2000), has been investigated in gender role studies, including coping strategies (Keogh and Herdenfeldt, 2002), pain catastrophizing (Thorn et al, 2004), situational context (Kallai et al, 2004), gender role expectations (Robinson et al, 2001) and hyper-vigilance (Rollman et al, 2004) or anxiety (Edwards et al, 2000).…”

Dor em cantores populares

“…The obtained data with popular and lyrical singers do not corroborate the data obtained to general population (4) , which the mean of pain in women is higher than men, suggesting that singing itself may reduce the amount of reported pain in general to both genders. Other studies about pain point out men and women are different regarding pain coping, threshold, and tolerance, women had higher complaints and lower resistance (13)(14)(15) . Regarding predominant pains, the three most reported pains by popular singers were all proximal to larynx: sore throat (66%), pain to speak (41%), and neck pain (35%).…”

“…These data suggest proximal pain to larynx complaint are more resident in people reporting vocal problems and then pain next to the larynx region during the practice of singing might indicate the presence or predisposition to the urge of voice disturbances, and restricting singing activity. The presence of small voice deviation in a singer may bring big financial impact, shows and presentations canceled and restricting the professional exercise (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) . In the studied sample there was a big search for otolaryngologists and speech language pathologists due to vocal disturbances and a correlation between the searches with the presence of body pains (Table 4).…”