BackgroundUnderstanding cultural perception of pain and determining the methods used for pain management contribute to the assessment of the pain experienced by nursing students. AimsThe aim of this study is to determine the effect of culture on nursing students' perception of pain and the modern, cultural, and traditional methods they use for pain self-management. DesignThis study is a cross-sectional descriptive study. Participants/SubjectsThis study was carried out with 319 nursing students between March 1 and May 1, 2020. MethodsFor data collection, a questionnaire created by the researchers after literature review and the Pain Beliefs Scale were used. Data were evaluated using SPSS Statistics 20.0 program. ResultsThe type of pain experienced most often by nursing students is headache (56.7%). The pain they experienced negatively affected daily activities. The mean score of those who used cultural method of psychologic beliefs for reducing pain was statistically significant (p < .05). ConclusionsNursing students generally use massage, warm shower, and herbal tea drinking for pain management. The psychologic belief scores of those who applied these traditional methods of pain reduction were high.