HUMAN PAIN RESEARCH - PERSONALITY-CORRELATES OF VOLUNTARISM AMONG COLLEGE-WOMEN

We sought to evaluate the relationship of personality to volunteer status in college women asked to participate in a pain research study. Female college students completed a questionnaire that included measures of extraversion (EXT), neuroticism (NEUR), lying (LIE), psychoticism (PSYCH), external locus of control (EX LOC) and trait anxiety (TR ANX) in a classroom setting. Following completion of the questionnaire, each student was asked whether she would participate in a study of pain tolerance. The personality scores of women who volunteered and kept their appointment (n = 61) for the study were compared to those women who declined to participate (n = 31). Females who volunteered to participate generally scored higher on the EX LOC measure than those who declined to participate (r = 0.33, P < 0.01). Volunteer status was not significantly related to EXT (r = 0.15), NEUR (r = -0.17), LIE (r = -0.18), PSYCH (r = 0.03) or TR ANX (r = -0.05). Thus, certain personality measures, such as EX LOC, may be related to the willingness of the women to volunteer for pain research. Therefore, studies examining the relationship of personality to pain experience, such as pain tolerance, must be interpreted cautiously. © 1991.