title: The Curse of Curves: Sex Differences in the Associations Between Body Shape and Pain Expression.
abstract: This study examines the associations between objective and subjective measurements and impressions of body shape and cold pressor pain reporting in healthy adults. On the basis of sexual selection theory (SST), we hypothesized that body characteristics that are universally preferred by the opposite sex-specifically, lower waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) in women and higher shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) in men-and characteristics (e.g., proportion of body fat in women) that infer attractiveness differently across cultures will correspond to higher experimental pain reporting in women and lower pain reporting in males. A convenience sample of young adults (n = 96, 58 females, 18-24 years; mean age = 19.4) was measured for body mass index (BMI), WHR, SHR, and subjective body impressions (SBI), along with cold pressor pain reporting. The findings showed that BMI was positively associated with WHR and less-positive SBI in both sexes. Consistent with SST, however, only BMI and WHR predicted variability in pain expression in women, whereas only SHR predicted variability in men. Subjective body impressions were positively associated with SHR among males and unrelated to WHR among females, yet only females showed a positive association between SBI and higher pain reporting. The findings suggest that sexually selected physical characteristics (WHR and SHR) and culturally influenced somatic (BMI) and psychological (SBI) indicators of attractiveness correspond with variability in pain reporting, potentially reflecting the general tendency for people to express clusters of sexually selected and culturally influenced traits that may include differential pain perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, MSC03 2220, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-1161, USA, vigilj@unm.edu.
authors.forename: Jacob M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vigil
authors.forename: Chance R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Strenth
authors.forename: Andrea A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DiDomenico
authors.forename: Diego Guevara
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Beltran
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coulombe
authors.forename: Jane Ellen
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D049628:Body Size; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain; D058748:Pain Perception; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D055815:Young Adult