The mediating role of personal pain perception between autistic trait and pain empathy among college students
10.3760/cma.j.cn371468-20240724-00342
- VernacularTitle:自身疼痛感知在大学生自闭特质与疼痛共情间的中介作用
- Author:
Siyu DI
1
;
Hailu WANG
1
;
Xuejing ZOU
1
;
Yanjiao WU
1
;
Wenyi FAN
1
;
Haiying QU
1
Author Information
1. 滨州医学院特殊教育与康复学院，烟台 264003
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Autistic trait;
Pain empathy;
Pain perception;
Pain sensitivity;
Fear of pain;
Pain cognition;
Mediating effect
- From:
Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science
2025;34(2):169-174
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To explore the relationship between autistic trait and pain empathy among college students, as well as the mediating role of personal pain perception.Methods:From October to December 2023, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1 195 college students using the autism spectrum quotient, pain sensitivity questionnaire, fear of pain questionnaire, pain catastrophizing scale and empathy for pain scale.SPSS 27.0 software was used for descriptive statistics and correlation analysis.A structural equation model was constructed using Mplus 8.3 to examine the mediating effect of personal pain perception, which was composed of pain sensitivity, fear and catastrophizing cognition.Results:Autistic trait(22.00(18.00, 26.00))was significantly positively correlated with pain sensitivity (55.00(43.00, 70.00)), fair of pain (69.00(60.00, 78.00)), and pain catastrophizing cognition (16.00(8.00, 23.00)) ( r=0.112, 0.154, 0.204, all P<0.001).Autistic trait was also significantly positively correlated with affective distress(62.00(46.00, 80.00), r=0.162, P<0.001) and vicarious pain (14.00(8.00, 20.00), r=0.096, P<0.001) of pain empathy.Pain sensitivity, fear of pain and pain catastrophizing cognition were significantly positively correlated with affective distress( r=0.244, 0.332, 0.375, all P<0.001) and vicarious pain ( r=0.210, 0.232, 0.285, all P<0.001) of pain empathy.The effects of autistic trait on affective distress and vicarious pain dimensions of pain empathy were fully mediated by personal pain perception, with the mediating effects of 0.115( P<0.001, 95% CI=0.073-0.165) and 0.085( P<0.001, 95% CI=0.053-0.124). Conclusions:The autistic trait of college students can predict the affective distress and vicarious pain of pain empathy indirectly through personal pain perception.
