Discrimination Experienced by Latinx American College Students is Associated with Enhanced Temporal Summation of Pain.

Abstract

The majority of Latinx Americans have experienced race-based discrimination, and many report that the frequency of these experiences is increasing. Prior studies suggest that race-based discrimination may have unique effects on pain facilitation above and beyond general stress, anxiety, or depression; yet this work has primarily focused on discrimination experienced by Black Americans. Although the pain of Latinx Americans is underrepresented in the literature, laboratory studies reveal enhanced pain and markers of pain facilitation among Latinx relative to White Americans and a few recent studies indicate a link between experiences of race-based discrimination and clinical pain. Thus, facilitation of experimental pain among Latinx Americans may be partly driven by greater lifetime experiences of discrimination. In this study, 180 (67.8% f, Mage=19.70 ±3.29) Latinx American participants completed measures of discrimination and temporal summation of mechanical pain. The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire-Community Version (PEDQ-CV) was used to probe experienced frequency of different dimensions of discrimination (i.e., experiences of race-based exclusion or rejection, stigmatization, discrimination in the workplace/school, and race-related threat and aggression) as well as total lifetime exposure to discrimination. Almost all participants (94.4%) reported experiences of race-based discrimination. Increased frequency of lifetime discrimination and each of the dimensions of discrimination was associated with greater temporal summation (total lifetime exposure: r=.261, p=.004; race-based exclusion/rejection: r=.181, p = .046; stigmatization: r=.21, p=.021; workplace/school discrimination r=.233, p=.010 and race-related threat/aggression r=.279, p=.002). This suggests race-based discrimination is commonly experienced by Latinx Americans and may be contributing to enhanced pain via pain facilitation. In the current climate, race-based discrimination may represent an increasingly important social determinant of pain among Latinx Americans.