Experiencing financial stress may lead to physical pain

Evidence from one of the team’s online studies revealed that two factors associated with financial insecurity — participants’ unemployment and state-level insecurity — were both correlated with participants’ self reports of pain.

The team also carried out a lab-based study where they prompted a group of participants to think about an uncertain job market. These participants showed a lower tolerance to pain — measured by how long they could keep their hand in a bucket of ice water — than those prompted to think about a stable job market who showed no changes in their pain tolerance.

And when the researchers gathered data from a 2008 consumer panel of 33,720 individuals, in households where both adults were unemployed, 20% more was spent on over-the-counter painkillers compared to households in which one adult was working.

The results from the findings supported the researchers’ hypothesis, with lead author of the study Eileen Chou concluding that, “Overall, our findings reveal that it physically hurts to be economically insecure. Results from six studies establish that economic insecurity produces physical pain, reduces pain tolerance, and predicts over-the-counter painkiller consumption.”

The team hope that the findings could be used by both other researchers and policymakers to help those in need, “By showing that physical pain has roots in economic insecurity and feelings of lack of control, the current findings offer hope for short-circuiting the downward spiral initiated by economic insecurity and producing a new, positive cycle of well-being and pain-free experience.”