Abstract
A recent meta-analysis of the experimental pain literature revealed effect sizes of .55 for pain threshold and .57 for pain tolerance, indicating a moderate difference in pain perception between men and women, with women reporting an increased sensitivity to pain. The current study investigated the relationship between sex and clinical pain ratings, in patients seeking care at a tertiary care facility. Five samples of chronic pain patients were recruited from several diverse clinics associated with the University of Florida. Analyses of clinical pain ratings revealed similar effect sizes for all samples, ranging from −.07 to −.25, indicating small differences, with women reporting higher levels of clinical pain. This is the first paper to report effect sizes for differences in report of pain in samples of chronic pain patients presenting for treatment at a tertiary care facility.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Berkley, K. J. (1995). From psychophysics to the clinic? Pain Forum, 4, 225–227.
Berkley, K. J. (1997). Sex differences in pain. Behavioral Brain Science, 20, 371–380.
Brown, F. F., Robinson, M. E., Riley, J. L., Gremillion, H. A., & Benson, M. (1997). Psychometric properties of a magnitude matching task using pressure algometry. Presented at the meeting of the American Pain Society, New Orleans, LA.
Buchelew, S. P., Shutty, M. S., Hewitt, J., Landon, T., Morrow, K., & Frank, R. G. (1990). Health locus of control, gender differences and adjustment to persistent pain. Pain, 42, 287–295.
Bush, F. M., Harkins, S.W., Harrington, W. G., & Price, D. D. (1993). Analysis of gender effects on pain perception and symptom presentation in temporomandibular pain. Pain, 53, 73–80.
Cleeland, C. S., Gonin, R., Hatfield, A. K., Edmonson, J. H., Blum, R. H., Stewart, J. A., & Pandya, K. J. (1994). Pain and its treatment in outpatients with metastatic cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 330, 592–596.
Cohen, F. (1980). Post-surgical pain relief: Patient's status and nurse's medication choice. Pain, 9, 265–274.
Ellermeier W., & Westphal W. (1995). Gender differences in pain ratings and pupil reactions to painful pressure stimuli. Pain, 61, 435–439.
Feine, J. S., Bushnell, M. C., Miron, D., & Duncan, G. H. (1991). Sex differences in the perception of noxious heat stimuli. Pain, 44, 255–262.
Fillingim, R. B., & Maixner, W. (1995). Gender differences in the responses to noxious stimuli. Pain Forum, 4(4), 209–221.
Fuller, A. K., & Robinson, M. E. (1995). Perceptual differences between patients with chronic low back pain and healthy volunteers using magnitude matching and clinically relevant stimuli. Behavior Therapy, 26, 241–253.
Heft, M. W. (1983). Prevalence of TMJ signs and symptoms in the elderly. Gerodontics, 3, 125–130.
Holroyd, K. A., Talbot, F., Holm, J. E., Pingel, J. D., Lake, A. E., & Saper, J. R. (1996). Assessing the dimensions of pain: a multitrait-multimethod evaluation of seven measures. Pain, 67, 259–265.
Kerns, R. D., Turk, D. C., & Rudy, T. E. (1985). The West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI). Pain, 23, 345–356.
Lander, J., Fowler-Kerry, S., & Hill, A. (1990). Comparison of pain perceptions among males and females. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 22, 39–49.
Maixner, W., & Humphrey, C. (1993). Gender differences in pain and cardiovascular responses to forearm ischemia. Clinical Journal of Pain, 2, 16–25.
McCaffery, M., & Ferrell, B.R. (1992). Does the gender gap affect your pain-control decisions? Nursing, 92(8), 48–51.
Melzack, R. (1975). The McGill Pain Questionnaire: major properties and scoring methods. Pain, 1, 277–299.
Melzack R., & Katz, J. (1992) The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Appraisal and current status. In R. Melzack & D. C. Turk (Eds.), Handbook of pain assessment. New York: Guilford.
Melzack, R., & Wall, P. D. (1988). The challenge of pain (2nd ed.). London: Penguin Books.
Riley, J. L., Gilbert, G. H., & Heft, M. W. (1998). Orofacial pain symptom prevalence: Selected sex differences in the elderly? Pain, 76, 97–104.
Riley, J. L., Robinson, M. E., Wise, E. A, Myers, C. D., & Fillingim, R. B. (1998). Sex differences in the perception of noxious experimental stimuli: A meta-analysis. Pain, 74, 181–187.
Scarr, S. (1997). Rules of evidence: A larger context for the statistical debate. Psychological Science, 8, 16–17.
Unruh, A. M. (1996). Review article: Gender variations in clinical pain experience. Pain, 65, 123–167.
Vallerand, A. H. (1995). Gender differences in pain. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 27, 235–237.
Verbrugge, L. M. (1985). Gender and health: An update on hypotheses and evidence. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 26, 156–182.
Von Korff, M., Ormel, J., Keefe, F. J., & Dworkin, S. F. (1992). Grading the severity of chronic pain. Pain, 50, 133–149.
Williams, D. A., Robinson, M. E., & Geisser, M. E. (1994). Pain beliefs: assessment and utility. Pain, 59, 71–78.
Wilson, L., Dworkin, S. F., Whitney, C., & LeResche, L. (1994). Somatization and pain dispersion in chronic temporomandibular disorder pain. Pain, 57, 55–61.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robinson, M.E., Wise, E.A., Riley III, J.L. et al. Sex Differences in Clinical Pain: A Multisample Study. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings 5, 413–424 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026282210848
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026282210848