The Perception of Pain in Others: How Gender, Race, and Age Influence Pain Expectations

Abstract

Sex, race/ethnic, and age differences in pain have been reported in clinical and experimental research. Gender role expectations have partly explained the variability in sex differences in pain, and the Gender Role Expectations of Pain questionnaire (GREP) was developed to measure sex-related stereotypic attributions about pain. It is hypothesized that similar expectations exist for age and race-related pain decisions. This study investigated new measures of race/ethnic- and age-related stereotypic attributions of pain sensitivity and willingness to report pain, and examined the psychometric properties of a modified GREP. Participants completed the Race/Ethnicity Expectations of Pain questionnaire, Age Expectations of Pain questionnaire, and modified GREP. Results revealed a 3-factor solution to the race/ethnicity questionnaire and a 2-factor solution to the age questionnaire, consistent with theoretical construction of the items. Results revealed a 4-factor solution to the modified GREP that differed from the original GREP and theoretical construction of the items. Participants’ pain-related stereotypic attributions differed across racial/ethnic, age, and gender groups. These findings provide psychometric support for the measures examined herein and suggest that stereotypic attributions of pain in others differ across demographic categories. Future work can refine the measures and examine whether select demographic variables influence pain perception, assessment, and/or treatment.

Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites

“…Conversely, participants who endorsed fewer false beliefs (−1 SD) rated the black target as feeling more pain than the white target [β = −0.48, SE = 0.20, t(211) = −2.34, P = 0.020]. In other words, as in study 1, participants in study 2 who endorsed false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites exhibited a racial bias in pain perception similar to the bias shown in previous work (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Unexpectedly, participants who did not endorse such beliefs exhibited a bias in the opposite direction.…”

“…In fact, recent work suggests that racial bias in pain treatment may stem, in part, from racial bias in perceptions of others' pain. This research has shown that people assume a priori that blacks feel less pain than do whites (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). In a study by Staton et al (14), for instance, patients were asked to report how much pain they were experiencing, and physicians were asked to rate how much pain they thought the patients were experiencing.…”

How do Singapore patients view post-anaesthesia adverse outcomes? A single-centre willingness-to-pay study

“…First, our results could help health service providers to refocus their resources. For example, we found that pain, nausea and vomiting were highly undesired outcomes, hence, clinicians and healthcare professionals should dedicate some preoperative time for patient education on pain management (26)(27)(28)(29) and postoperative acute pain management. A previous study (25) had found that overall pain management systems can be improved by education on realistic pain expectations and coping strategies preoperatively.…”

The central nervous system – An additional consideration in ‘rotator cuff tendinopathy’ and a potential basis for understanding response to loaded therapeutic exercise

“…The role of the health care professional and diagnostic labels was described above to demonstrate how a context can influence behaviour. Wandner et al, (2012) have also reported how the perception of pain varies across gender, race and age. It seems likely that a combination of these biopsychosocial factors might (mis)inform an individual's perception and hence pain response.…”