Sex differences in perceptual and cardiovascular responses to pain: The influence of a perceived ability manipulation

Sex differences in responses to experimental pain have been widely reported, with women typically showing lower pain threshold and tolerance than men. One possible explanation for these differences is that traditional gender roles may lead to sex differences in perceived ability to tolerate pain. To address this possibility, the present study evaluated the influence of a sex-related perceived ability manipulation on pain tolerance and cardiovascular responses to ischemic pain assessed via the submaximal effort tourniquet procedure. A sample of 68 young adults (35 women, 33 men) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 perceived ability conditions, which depicted either women (FEM condition) or men (MASC condition) as more able to tolerate the painful task. The results indicated that men had higher pain tolerance than women. Although there was no overall effect of the experimental condition, only men in the FEM condition had higher tolerance than women. Also, men had greater blood pressure reactivity than women, and further analysis showed that women in the MASC condition had the lowest systolic blood pressure reactivity. Cardiovascular reactivity and motivation to tolerate the pain were positively correlated with pain tolerance only among men in the FEM condition. These findings indicate that the perceived ability manipulation produced only modest effects on pain tolerance and cardiovascular reactivity, but the relationship of cardiovascular and subjective responses to pain tolerance differed across conditions. These findings suggest that perceived ability may contribute to perceptual and cardiovascular responses to pain in a complex fashion, and further research to explicate these relationships is needed. (C) 2002 by the American Pain Society.