Gender differences in adolescent pain and pain-related coping

Abstract

Gender differences exist in pain and the strategies used to cope with such negative states. Although it is it has been proposed that such gender differences manifest around puberty, somewhat surprisingly very little research has specifically investigated gender as a moderator of chronic pain within adolescents. The primary aim of the current study was to investigate gender differences in pain and coping within a group of 152 chronic pain sufferers. Patients consisted of 46 males and 106 females between the ages of 11 and 19 (mean = 14.76; SD = 1.71), with average chronic pain duration of 3.63 years, who had been referred to the Pain Management Unit at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, United Kingdom. Patients completed a battery of measures including a pain experience visual analogue scale and a pain coping questionnaire. A series of independent t-tests revealed that although there were no gender differences in pain duration, males and females did differ in pain experiences over the past week (females = 7.10; males = 6.41; t (149) = 2.15, p<.05). Furthermore, gender differences were also found in seeking social support (females = 18.53; males = 16.10; t (129) = 2.613, p<.05), use of positive self statements (females = 14.69; males = 12.93; t (129) = 2.18, p<.05) and behavioral distraction (females = 9.71; males = 11.24; t (129) = −2.54, p<.05). Whereas females used more social support and positive statements, males reported engaging in more behavioural distraction. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that of these coping strategies only behavioural distraction was found to mediate the relationship between gender and pain over the past week. This suggests that not only do gender differences exists in pain and pain-coping strategies within adolescents with chronic pain, but that behavioural distraction may be an important mechanism in understanding such differences. Gender differences exist in pain and the strategies used to cope with such negative states. Although it is it has been proposed that such gender differences manifest around puberty, somewhat surprisingly very little research has specifically investigated gender as a moderator of chronic pain within adolescents. The primary aim of the current study was to investigate gender differences in pain and coping within a group of 152 chronic pain sufferers. Patients consisted of 46 males and 106 females between the ages of 11 and 19 (mean = 14.76; SD = 1.71), with average chronic pain duration of 3.63 years, who had been referred to the Pain Management Unit at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, United Kingdom. Patients completed a battery of measures including a pain experience visual analogue scale and a pain coping questionnaire. A series of independent t-tests revealed that although there were no gender differences in pain duration, males and females did differ in pain experiences over the past week (females = 7.10; males = 6.41; t (149) = 2.15, p<.05). Furthermore, gender differences were also found in seeking social support (females = 18.53; males = 16.10; t (129) = 2.613, p<.05), use of positive self statements (females = 14.69; males = 12.93; t (129) = 2.18, p<.05) and behavioral distraction (females = 9.71; males = 11.24; t (129) = −2.54, p<.05). Whereas females used more social support and positive statements, males reported engaging in more behavioural distraction. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that of these coping strategies only behavioural distraction was found to mediate the relationship between gender and pain over the past week. This suggests that not only do gender differences exists in pain and pain-coping strategies within adolescents with chronic pain, but that behavioural distraction may be an important mechanism in understanding such differences.