The pain locus of control orientation in a healthy sample of the Italian population: sociodemographic modulating factors.

We studied the pain locus of control orientation of the Italian population and the possible influence of the ethnocultural background and sociodemographic characteristics on this attributional style. An Italian version of the Pain Locus of Control (PLOC-It) scale was administered to 144 healthy subjects, divided into two ethnocultural areas (North vs South) and stratified by age (per decade 21-60), gender (female and male) and educational level (3). The Powerful Other subscale had the highest mean score, followed by the Internality and Chance subscales. ANOVA revealed significant effects of ethnocultural area and educational level on Internality (F = 724, p < 0.001; F = 5.05, p < 0.05) and of age on Chance (F = 13.6, p < 0.001). There was a significant three-way interaction between area, gender and educational level on Powerful Other (F = 3.67, p < 0.05). Further studies should be performed in populations of various countries to better identify the attributional styles related to the different cultures and the absolute sociodemographic determinants of the pain locus of control orientation.