Are all pain tolerance tasks the same? Convergent validity of four behavioral pain tolerance tasks, self-reported capability for suicide, and lifetime self-injurious behaviors

Objectives Discrepancies persist regarding the extent to which different pain measures provide similar information and relate to capability for suicide and self-injurious behaviors. This study examined pain threshold, tolerance, and persistence across four modalities (cold, heat, pressure, shock) and assessed associations with self-reported capability for suicide, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and suicide attempts. Methods A sample of 211 students who reported lifetime suicidal ideation completed four behavioral pain tasks and self-reported on capability for suicide, NSSI, and self-injurious behaviors. Results All pain thresholds, tolerances, and persistences were positively correlated across the four tasks. Pain facets were related to self-reported capability for suicide with small effect sizes but generally did not differ across suicide attempt or NSSI histories. Conclusions Pain thresholds, tolerances, and persistences demonstrated convergent validity across the four modalities, suggesting that these tasks provide similar information. Although the relation between pain and self-injurious behaviors remains unclear, these tasks can generally be used interchangeably.