Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Gender differences in pain: do emotions play a role?

Jamie L Rhudy1, Amy E Williams

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA. jamie-rhudy@utulsa.edu

Gender Medicine
|February 9, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Gender influences pain perception through emotion processing. Women may experience heightened pain due to sensitivity to negative stimuli, while men might show greater pain reduction from positive stimuli.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Psychosocial factors do not explain discrepancy between daily diary and one-week retrospective reports of pain.

Pain·2026
Same author

The Impact of Pain Coping Strategies on Chronic Pain Among Native Americans.

Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities·2026
Same author

Multicenter randomized controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral, exercise-based, and combined interventions for juvenile fibromyalgia.

Pain·2026
Same author

Preliminary Validation of Two Brief Screening Measures for Eating Disorders in Adults with Chronic Pain.

Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings·2025
Same author

Assessing the impact of social support and social isolation on pain intensity and pain interference among Native Americans with chronic pain.

Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association·2025
Same author

Rethinking psychological treatment targets for pediatric rumination syndrome: Clinical implications from a case series analysis.

JPGN reports·2025

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Pain Research

Background:

  • Gender significantly impacts pain perception and processing.
  • Emotion, mediated by valence and arousal, is a key factor influencing pain.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if gender differences in emotion processing contribute to variations in pain modulation and perception.
  • To explore the role of emotion's valence and arousal in gender-specific pain experiences.

Main Methods:

  • Comprehensive literature search of MEDLINE and PsycINFO (1887–May 2005).
  • Inclusion of studies from reference lists of initially identified articles.

Main Results:

  • Emotion influences pain via valence-by-arousal interaction: low-arousal negative emotions (anxiety) enhance pain, high-arousal negative emotions (fear) reduce pain, and positive emotions reduce pain.
  • Women may exhibit enhanced pain perception due to higher sensitivity to threat-related stimuli, while men might experience greater pain reduction from positive stimuli.

Conclusions:

  • Gender differences in pain may stem from distinct emotion processing, with women potentially more attuned to negative affect and men to positive affect.
  • Significant research gaps exist, necessitating studies with comprehensive emotion models, adequate checks, and within-subject designs to clarify these gender-pain-emotion links.

Related Experiment Videos