close
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018;158(6):721-729.
doi: 10.1080/00224545.2017.1409188. Epub 2017 Dec 11.

Racial bias in sport medical staff's perceptions of others' pain

Affiliations

Racial bias in sport medical staff's perceptions of others' pain

James N Druckman et al. J Soc Psychol. 2018.

Erratum in

  • Correction.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] J Soc Psychol. 2020;160(2):264-266. doi: 10.1080/00224545.2019.1599547. Epub 2019 May 14. J Soc Psychol. 2020. PMID: 32037987 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Unequal treatment based on race is well documented in higher education and healthcare settings. In the present work, we examine racial bias at the intersection of these domains: racial bias in pain-related perceptions among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 sport medical staff. Using experimental vignettes about a student-athlete who injured his/her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), we find, like prior work, that respondents perceived Black (vs. White) targets as having higher initial pain tolerance. Moreover, this bias was mediated by perceptions of social class. We extend prior work by showing racial bias was not evident on other outcome measures, including perception of recovery process pain, likelihood of over-reporting pain, and over-use of drugs to combat pain. This suggests stricter boundary conditions on bias in pain perceptions than had been previously recognized.

Keywords: Pain perceptions; racial bias; social class; sports psychology.

PubMed Disclaimer