Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III
Sara M Vambheim,1 Roald A Øien1,21Department of Psychology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; 2Yale University, School of Medicine, Child Study center, New Haven, CT, USA Objectives: This study aimed to investigate sex differences in fear of pain (FOP) measured by the Fear of Pai...
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ftdovepress:oai:dovepress.com/32274 2023-05-15T18:34:52+02:00 Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III Vambheim,Sara M. Øien,Roald A. 2017-04-07 text/html https://www.dovepress.com/sex-differences-in-fear-of-pain-item-level-analysis-of-the-fear-of-pai-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR en eng Dove Press info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.2147/JPR.S128850 https://www.dovepress.com/sex-differences-in-fear-of-pain-item-level-analysis-of-the-fear-of-pai-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Journal of Pain Research Methodology info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftdovepress https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S128850 2022-12-27T22:11:21Z Sara M Vambheim,1 Roald A Øien1,21Department of Psychology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; 2Yale University, School of Medicine, Child Study center, New Haven, CT, USA Objectives: This study aimed to investigate sex differences in fear of pain (FOP) measured by the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III (FPQ-III) in a nonclinical sample. The FPQ-III is a self-report inventory measuring FOP, with 30 items, divided into three subscales: Severe, Minor and Medical Pain.Methods: A total of 185 subjects participated (49.7% females) in this study. Sex differences on overall FOP, the subscales, and at item level were examined. One-way analysis of variance tested the association between sex and FOP, measured by overall FOP and the subscales. Ordinal regression analysis enabled item-level analysis of the FPQ-III and was conducted to explore further specificity of FOP in males compared to females.Results: Overall FOP and fear of Severe Pain was significantly higher in females than in males, as measured by the FPQ-Total and the FPQ-Severe. Moreover, females were more likely to report higher FOP than males on 16 items (p<0.05). Further inspection revealed that females scored significantly higher than males on all items on the Severe Pain subscale. When controlling for multiple comparisons six items reached significance (p<0.001). Five of these items belonged to the subscale Severe Pain. When controlling for overall FOP one item, also from the Severe Pain subscale, reached significance (p<0.001).Conclusion: There are sex differences in severe FOP, with higher FOP in females compared to males. Potential explanations are sex differences in the 1) psychosocial mechanisms of fear and anxiety, and 2) emotional reactions to and interpretation of FPQ-III Severe Pain items. Keywords: fear of pain, FOP, fear of pain questionnaire III, FPQ-III, pain, sex differences Article in Journal/Newspaper Tromsø Arctic University of Norway UiT The Arctic University of Norway Dove Medical Press Arctic Norway Tromsø Journal of Pain Research Volume 10 825 831 |
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Journal of Pain Research Vambheim,Sara M. Øien,Roald A. Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III |
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Journal of Pain Research |
description |
Sara M Vambheim,1 Roald A Øien1,21Department of Psychology, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; 2Yale University, School of Medicine, Child Study center, New Haven, CT, USA Objectives: This study aimed to investigate sex differences in fear of pain (FOP) measured by the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III (FPQ-III) in a nonclinical sample. The FPQ-III is a self-report inventory measuring FOP, with 30 items, divided into three subscales: Severe, Minor and Medical Pain.Methods: A total of 185 subjects participated (49.7% females) in this study. Sex differences on overall FOP, the subscales, and at item level were examined. One-way analysis of variance tested the association between sex and FOP, measured by overall FOP and the subscales. Ordinal regression analysis enabled item-level analysis of the FPQ-III and was conducted to explore further specificity of FOP in males compared to females.Results: Overall FOP and fear of Severe Pain was significantly higher in females than in males, as measured by the FPQ-Total and the FPQ-Severe. Moreover, females were more likely to report higher FOP than males on 16 items (p<0.05). Further inspection revealed that females scored significantly higher than males on all items on the Severe Pain subscale. When controlling for multiple comparisons six items reached significance (p<0.001). Five of these items belonged to the subscale Severe Pain. When controlling for overall FOP one item, also from the Severe Pain subscale, reached significance (p<0.001).Conclusion: There are sex differences in severe FOP, with higher FOP in females compared to males. Potential explanations are sex differences in the 1) psychosocial mechanisms of fear and anxiety, and 2) emotional reactions to and interpretation of FPQ-III Severe Pain items. Keywords: fear of pain, FOP, fear of pain questionnaire III, FPQ-III, pain, sex differences |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vambheim,Sara M. Øien,Roald A. |
author_facet |
Vambheim,Sara M. Øien,Roald A. |
author_sort |
Vambheim,Sara M. |
title |
Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III |
title_short |
Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III |
title_full |
Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III |
title_fullStr |
Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III |
title_sort |
sex differences in fear of pain: item-level analysis of the fear of pain questionnaire iii |
publisher |
Dove Press |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://www.dovepress.com/sex-differences-in-fear-of-pain-item-level-analysis-of-the-fear-of-pai-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR |
geographic |
Arctic Norway Tromsø |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway Tromsø |
genre |
Tromsø Arctic University of Norway UiT The Arctic University of Norway |
genre_facet |
Tromsø Arctic University of Norway UiT The Arctic University of Norway |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.2147/JPR.S128850 https://www.dovepress.com/sex-differences-in-fear-of-pain-item-level-analysis-of-the-fear-of-pai-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S128850 |
container_title |
Journal of Pain Research |
container_volume |
Volume 10 |
container_start_page |
825 |
op_container_end_page |
831 |
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1766219826755272704 |