Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine race and sex differen
ces in cutaneous pain perception. Methods: Pain perception was measured usi
ng a suprathreshold evaluation of pain intensity and pain unpleasantness to
a series of thermal stimuli in 27 whites (14 men and 13 women) and 24 Afri
can Americans (12 men and 12 women). Blood pressure, depressive symptoms, a
nxiety state levels, and negative mood were assessed before pain testing to
examine whether they might account for any sex or race differences in pain
perception that emerged. Results: African Americans rated the stimuli as m
ore unpleasant and showed a tendency to rate it as more intense than whites
. Women showed a tendency to rate the stimuli as more unpleasant and more i
ntense than men. In addition, systolic blood pressure was inversely related
to pain intensity. After statistically adjusting for systolic blood pressu
re, sex differences in pain unpleasantness were reduced and sex differences
in pain intensity were abolished; race differences were unaltered. Conclus
ions: These differences in pain perception may be associated with different
pain mechanisms: in the case of sex, differences in opioid activity and ba
roreceptor-regulated pain systems; in the case of race, unmeasured psycholo
gical characteristics are suggested by the larger differences in ratings of
pain unpleasantness than pain intensity.