Poverty and Pain: People with Low SES Believed to be Insensitive to Pain

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104116

Commentary

In 10 experiments (N = 1584), we investigated hypothetical biases in pain sensitivity to explain disparities in pain treatment across socioeconomic status (SES).

According to this, individuals with low SES are thought to have less pain than individuals with high SES (studies 1a-1c), and this effect varies by race (white individuals, black individuals) and gender (male, female; studies 2-3).

Next, we examined two potential mechanisms underlying the effects of SES on pain sensitivity: dehumanization and beliefs about life's difficulties (Studies 4-5).

The researchers observed supporting evidence for different life difficulty explanations for pain sensitivity bias across SES and investigated downstream influences.

They also assessed pain perception bias in pain sensitivity to treatment recommendations in health care and found that both general participants (studies 6-7) and health care providers (study 8) believed that individuals with low SES have less sensitivity to pain and therefore do not require more intensive pain management.

These study results show that this systematic bias in determining pain sensitivity across SES has implications for psychological theory and equitable pain treatment