(167) Subjective Age is Associated with Temporal Summation of Mechanical Pain

Abstract

Subjective age is a multifaceted self-perception of the age one feels relative to one's chronological age, and is conceptualized as a reflection of one's physical, mental, and social health. Markers of poor health are correlated with discrepancies between subjective age and actual chronological age, and individuals with poor overall health, lower grip strength, memory problems, weight gain, and trouble sleeping all report elevated subjective ages relative to healthy populations of similar chronological age. Subjective age may in fact reflect an introspective awareness that takes biopsychosocial factors into account. As such, subjective age has been suggested to be a more robust predictor of overall health and function than chronological age. Therefore, subjective age may be a simple and useful assessment item that corresponds to overall pain sensitivity. To date though, no studies have been conducted to examine whether subjective age can predict pain response in a laboratory setting. Here, among 67 healthy young adults (53.7% female, Mage = 21.66, SD = 3.64 years), subjective age r = .28, p = .02, but not chronological age r = .11, p = .37, was associated with greater mechanical temporal summation. This relationship remained significant after controlling for chronological age in a partial correlation, r = .26, p = .03. The results of the current study suggest that subjective age may be a better predictor of pain sensitization than chronological age, although additional research is needed to probe this relationship across the lifespan.