Women may be disproportionately vulnerable to acute pain, potentially due to their social landscape. We examined whether positive and negative social processes (social support and social undermining) are associated with acute pain and if the processes are linked to pain via negative cognitive appraisal and emotion (pain catastrophizing, hyperarousal, anger). Psychosocial variables were assessed in inner-city women (N = 375) presenting to an Emergency Department with acute pain. The latent cognitive-emotion variable fully mediated social undermining and support effects on pain, with undermining showing greater impact. Pain may be alleviated by limiting negative social interactions, mitigating risks of alternative pharmacological interventions.
AbbeyAAbramisDJCaplanRD (1985) Effects of different sources of social support and social conflict on emotional well-being. Basic and Applied Social Psychology6(2): 111–129.
2.
AldaoANolen-HoeksemaSSchweizerS (2010) Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review30(2): 217–237.
3.
AquinoKDouglasSMartinkoMJ (2004) Overt anger in response to victimization: Attributional style and organizational norms as moderators. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology9: 152–164.
4.
BaronRMKennyDA (1986) The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology51(6): 1173–1182.
5.
BerensonKRAndersenSM (2006) Childhood physical and emotional abuse by a parent: Transference effects in adult interpersonal relations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin32(11): 1509–1522.
6.
BernsteinMJClaypoolHM (2012) Social exclusion and pain sensitivity: Why exclusion sometimes hurts and sometimes numbs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin38(2): 185–196.
7.
BranscombeNREllemersNSpearsR, et al. (1999) The context and content of social identity threat. In: EllemersNSpearsRDoosjeB (eds) Social Identity: Context, Commitment, Content. Oxford: Blackwell Science, pp. 35–58.
8.
BriereJNElliotDM (1994) Immediate and long-term impacts of child sexual abuse. The Future of Children4(2): 54–69.
9.
BrownJLSheffieldDLearyMR, et al. (2003) Social support and experimental pain. Psychosomatic Medicine65(2): 276–283.
10.
BruehlSBurnsJWChungOY, et al. (2009) Pain-related effects of trait anger expression: Neural substrates and the role of endogenous opioid mechanisms. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews33(3): 475–491.
11.
BurnsJWGerhartJIBruehlS, et al. (2016) Anger arousal and behavioral anger regulation in everyday life among people with chronic low back pain: Relationships with spouse responses and negative affect. Health Psychology35(1): 29–40.
12.
BurnsJWJohnsonBJMahoneyN, et al. (2006) Anger management style, hostility and spouse responses: Gender differences in predictors of adjustment among chronic pain patients. Pain64(3): 445–453.
13.
BurnsJWQuartanaPJBruehlS (2008) Anger inhibition and pain: Conceptualizations, evidence and new directions. Journal of Behavioral Medicine31(3): 259–279.
14.
ChapmanCR (1978) Pain: The perception of noxious events. In: StembachRA (ed.) The Psychology of Pain. New York: Raven Press, pp. 169–202.
15.
ChibnallJTTaitRCAndresenEM, et al. (2005) Race and socioeconomic differences in post-settlement outcomes for African American and Caucasian Workers’ Compensation claimants with low back injuries. Pain114(3): 462–472.
16.
ChoSKHeibyEMMcCrackenLM, et al. (2011) Daily functioning in chronic pain: Study of structural relations with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, pain intensity, and pain avoidance. The Korean Journal of Pain24(1): 13–21.
17.
CranfordJA (2004) Stress-buffering or stress-exacerbation? Social support and social undermining as moderators of the relationship between perceived stress and depressive symptoms among married people. Personal Relationships11(1): 23–40.
18.
DeWallCNBaumeisterRF (2006) Alone but feeling no pain: Effects of social exclusion on physical pain tolerance and pain threshold, affective forecasting, and interpersonal empathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology91(1): 1–15.
19.
EdwardsRRCahalanCMensingG, et al. (2011) Pain, catastrophizing, and depression in the rheumatic diseases. Nature Reviews Rheumatology7(4): 216–224.
20.
EisenbergerNI (2015) Social pain and the brain: Controversies, questions, and where to go from here. Annual Review of Psychology66: 601–629.
21.
FillingimRBKingCDRibeiro-DasilvaMC, et al. (2009) Sex, gender, and pain: A review of recent clinical and experimental findings. Journal of Pain10(5): 447–485.
22.
GaffeyAEBergemanCSClarkLA, et al. (2016) Aging and the HPA axis: Stress and resilience in older adults. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews68: 928–945.
23.
GilbertPMilesJN (2000) Sensitivity to social put-down: It’s relationship to perceptions of social rank, shame, social anxiety, depression, anger and self-other blame. Personality and Individual Differences29(4): 757–774.
24.
GreenCRAndersonKOBakerTA, et al. (2003) The unequal burden of pain: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in pain. Pain Medicine4(3): 277–294.
25.
GuaySBilletteVMarchandA (2006) Exploring the links between posttraumatic stress disorder and social support: Processes and potential research avenues. Journal of Traumatic Stress19(3): 327–338.
26.
HuLTBentlerPM (1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal6(1): 1–55.
27.
HughesSJaremkaLMAlfanoCM, et al. (2014) Social support predicts inflammation, pain, and depressive symptoms: Longitudinal relationships among breast cancer survivors. Psychoneuroendocrinology42: 38–44.
28.
JanssenSA (2002) Negative affect and sensitization to pain. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology43(2): 131–137.
29.
JensenMPKarolyP (2011) Self-report scales and procedures for assessing pain in adults. In: TurkDMelzackR (eds) Handbook of Pain Assessment. 3rd ed.New York: Guilford Press, pp. 542–544.
30.
JohnOPGrossJJ (2004) Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. Journal of Personality72(6): 1301–1333.
31.
Kendall-TackettKA (2000) Physiological correlates of childhood abuse: Chronic hyperarousal in PTSD, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome. Child Abuse and Neglect24(6): 799–810.
32.
KleinAMoosbruggerH (2000) Maximum likelihood estimation of latent interaction effects with the LMS method. Psychometrika65(4): 457–474.
33.
KlineRB (2005) Details of Path Analysis: Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York: Guilford Press.
34.
LamiMJMartínezMPMiróE, et al. (2018) Catastrophizing, acceptance, and coping as mediators between pain and emotional distress and disability in fibromyalgia. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings25(1): 80–92.
35.
LillisTABurnsJArandaF, et al. (2018) PTSD symptoms and acute pain in the Emergency Department: The roles of vulnerability and resilience factors among low-income, inner-city women. Clinical Journal of Pain34(11): 1000.
36.
LittMD (1988) Self-efficacy and perceived control: Cognitive mediators of pain tolerance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology54(1): 149–160.
37.
López-MartínezAEEsteve-ZarazagaRRamírez-MaestreC (2008) Perceived social support and coping responses are independent variables explaining pain adjustment among chronic pain patients. The Journal of Pain9(4): 373–379.
38.
Maan DiongSBishopGDEnkelmannHC, et al. (2005) Anger, stress, coping, social support and health: Modeling the relationships. Psychology & Health20(4): 467–495.
39.
McDermidAJRollmanGBMcCainGA (1996) Generalized hypervigilance in fibromyalgia: Evidence of perceptual amplification. Pain66(2–3): 133–144.
40.
MacDonaldGLearyMR (2005) Why does social exclusion hurt? The relationship between social and physical pain. Psychological Bulletin131(2): 202–223.
41.
McIlvaneJM (2007) Disentangling the effects of race and SES on arthritis-related symptoms, coping, and wellbeing in African American and White women. Aging and Mental Health11(5): 556–569.
42.
McLeanSAMaioRFDomeierRM (2002) The epidemiology of pain in the prehospital setting. Prehospital Emergency Care6(4): 402–405.
43.
McWilliamsLAAsmundsonGJ (2007) The relationship of adult attachment dimensions to pain-related fear, hypervigilance, and catastrophizing. Pain127(1–2): 27–34.
OetzelJDuranBJiangY, et al. (2007) Social support and social undermining as correlates for alcohol, drug, and mental disorders in American Indian women presenting for primary care at an Indian Health Service hospital. Journal of Health Communication12(2): 187–206.
46.
OetzelJWilcoxBArchiopoliA, et al. (2014) Social support and social undermining as explanatory factors for health-related quality of life in people living with HIV/AIDS. Journal of Health Communication19(6): 660–675.
47.
OsmanABarriosFXGutierrezPM, et al. (2000) The Pain Catastrophizing Scale: Further psychometric evaluation with adult samples. Journal of Behavioral Medicine23(4): 351–365.
48.
PilkonisPAChoiSWReiseSP, et al. (2011) Item banks for measuring emotional distress from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®): Depression, anxiety, and anger. Assessment18(3): 263–283.
49.
PriceDD (2000) Psychological and neural mechanisms of the affective dimension of pain. Science288(5472): 1769–1772.
50.
QuartanaPJCampbellCMEdwardsRR (2009) Pain catastrophizing: A critical review. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics9(5): 745–758.
51.
RafaeliECranfordJAGreenAS, et al. (2008) The good and bad of relationships: How social hindrance and social support affect relationship feelings in daily life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin34(12): 1703–1718.
52.
RobertsMHKlatzkinRRMechlinB (2015) Social support attenuates physiological stress responses and experimental pain sensitivity to cold pressor pain. Annals of Behavioral Medicine49(4): 557–569.
53.
SullivanLWEagelBA (2005) Leveling the playing field: Recognizing and rectifying disparities in management of pain. Pain Medicine6(1): 5–10.
54.
SullivanMJThornBHaythornthwaiteJA, et al. (2001) Theoretical perspectives on the relation between catastrophizing and pain. The Clinical Journal of Pain17(1): 52–64.
55.
SullivanMJLBishopSPivikJ (1995) The pain catastrophizing scale: Development and validation. Psychological Assessment7(4): 524–532.
56.
Suso-RiberaCCamacho-GuerreroLMcCrackenLM, et al. (2016) Social problem solving in chronic pain: An integrative model of coping predicts mental health in chronic pain patients. Journal of Health Psychology21(6): 1015–1025.
57.
TaylorSE (2011) Social support: A review. In: FriedmanHS (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Health Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 192–217.
58.
TchalovaKEisenbergerNI (2016) The shared neural substrates of physical and social pain. In: WilliamsKDNidaSA (eds) Ostracism, Exclusion, and Rejection. New York: Routledge, pp. 17–26.
59.
TurkDCKernsRDRosenbergR (1992) Effects of marital interaction on chronic pain and disability: Examining the down side of social support. Rehabilitation Psychology37(4): 259–274.
WeissRS (1974) The provisions of social relationships. In: RubinZ (ed.) Doing Unto Others. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 17–26.
62.
WilliamsDRJacksonPB (2005) Social sources of racial disparities in health. Health Affairs24(2): 325–334.
63.
WirthMMGaffeyAE (2013) Hormones and emotion: Stress and beyond. In: RobinsonMDWatkinsERHarmon-JonesE (eds) Handbook of Cognition and Emotion. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 69–96.
