Social Relationships and Experimental Pain Sensitivity in Healthy Adolescent Girls: An Exploratory Preliminary Study

Greater understanding of relationships between social factors and pain responses can provide new modifiable targets for pain interventions in adolescents. This observational preliminary exploratory study aims to examine the associations between experimental pain sensitivity and social factors in healthy adolescents.

Sixty-three healthy girls (age 11.9 ± 1.3) completed comprehensive quantitative sensory testing assessments of ten experimental pain measures as well as three open-ended self-identity qualitative questions and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System peer-relationships family-relationships surveys. Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) was used to quantify the proportion of socially oriented words. Higher LIWC scores indicate a greater emphasis on social aspects in responses. Associations between experimental pain measures and social variables were examined using 10 regression models and 20 correlations.

Most associations were not statistically significant. Contrary to the hypothesis, a greater use of socially oriented language (higher LIWC social score) was associated with greater pain sensitivity reflected by lower cold pain thresholds (p = 0.013) and higher heat pain ratings (p = 0.020). As hypothesized, greater social scores were related to greater pain inhibitory responses, with LIWC scores related to the conditioned pain modulation response (p = 0.020), and better peer relationships were related to greater offset analgesia response (r = -0.276, p = 0.048). No other significant associations were observed.

Social experiences may have a minor effect on experimental pain sensitivity and modulation in healthy adolescent girls. These findings suggest that, in this population, social experiences may have only a minor influence on experimental pain responses relative to other biopsychosocial factors.

This exploratory study identified only very few associations, suggesting that social experiences may have a minor effect on experimental pain sensitivity in healthy adolescent girls. However, the few associations observed may point towards a possible association between greater inhibitory response and greater social support from family and peers, which could guide future studies investigating the role of social factors in pain modulation during adolescence.