The purpose of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Dallas Pain Questionnaire (DPQ). Not only does the DPQ offer the potential of statistical and clinical diagnostic value but also is easily interpretable across cultural lines. No such instrument has presently been validated for the Mexican-American population. A total of 81 Spanish speaking subjects participated in this study. Of these subjects, 56 were classified as chronic pain patients by nature of their medical diagnosis and duration of pain. The 25 normal subjects were family members of the chronic pain patients and members of the Northern New Mexico Hispanic community chosen at random. Hypothesis one predicted that reliability would be obtained on Spanish speaking populations based on test-retest with correlation coefficients of the items. The second hypothesis predicted that the Spanish DPQ would have content validity or consistent internal structure on those items that measure the trait or behavior of interest based upon factor analysis approaches and internal consistency measures. Hypothesis three predicted that the Spanish version of the DPQ would significantly correlate with the English version of the DPQ on all four factors. All four hypotheses were supported. The Spanish DPQ showed reliability over time based on test-retest. The statistics revealed an internally reliable test, alpha coefficient analysis and factor analysis. The validity was supported by significant correlations with the English DPQ and discrimination between chronic and nonchronic pain patients. While all four hypotheses were upheld, interpretation of the present findings should be moderated by recognition of the limitations of the studies. Future studies should test larger samples to improve confidence in the psychometric properties of the instrument. Still notable limitations of the questionnaire are that the Spanish DPQ is a form that is more accurately viewed as a global measure.