Embodied inequities

An intersectional examination of the roles of gender, sexual orientation, and social support in chronic pain inequities in the United States

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7146815
AutoresDee Jolly (0000-0003-2854-3990, University of Oregon), Ariella R Tabaac (0000-0002-3022-2566, Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital , Boston, MA), L Zachary Dubois (0000-0001-5459-2863, University of Oregon)
Ano2025
Volume59
Fascículo1
Data de publicação2025-01-04
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAnnals of Behavioral Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0883-6612 • E-ISSN: 1532-4796
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/abm/kaaf021
PMID40139678
OpenAlexW4408957012
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas61

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain inequities follow a social power-driven gradient of health, whereby those with less social advantage experience chronic pain more often. Feeling socially supported may reduce the burden of chronic pain. PURPOSE: To take an intersectional approach to understand inequities in chronic pain in the United States, by testing whether living at different intersections of sexual orientation and gender shape chronic pain through differences in experiences of social and emotional support. METHODS: We compared chronic pain frequency and availability of social support at intersections of sexual orientation and gender in the 2021 National Health Interview Study using an analytic intercategorical intersectional approach using a 3-way decomposition approach to mediation. RESULTS: Pairwise comparisons highlighted inequities in chronic pain among sexual minority women (i.e., women who identified as "something else," gay/lesbian, or bisexual) and bisexual men compared to all other identities (i.e., straight and questioning men and women, and men who identified as "something else"). Inequities were most salient for bisexual men and women, especially bisexual women. A theoretical intervention to increase available social support to that of straight women, who reported the greatest availability of social support, would decrease chronic pain frequency for all sexual minority people except for gay/lesbian women. Inequities, while attenuated, would persist among bisexual men and women after a theoretical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Social position shapes chronic pain inequities in sexual minority people in the United States through differences in available social and emotional support. Results highlight bisexual men as an understudied group in chronic pain research.

Embodied cognition · Health psychology · Intersectionality · Orientation (vector space) · Public health · Sexual orientation · Social support · Sociology · Computer Science · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Medicine · Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation · Nursing · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment · Psychology · Social Psychology