Relationship Context Moderates Couple Congruence in Ratings of Sexual Arousal and Pain During Vaginal Sensations in the Laboratory

Marieke Dewitte,Jan Schepers

doi:10.1007/s10508-019-1452-3

Abstract

Genital pain is a social experience that needs to be studied as a dyadic interaction between partners. The present study relied on a sample of 42 heterosexual couples to examine the level of congruence between both partners’ ratings of pain and sexual arousal in response to experimentally induced vaginal pressure that served as a simulation of vaginal sensations during penetration. We also inferred the men’s ability to estimate their partner’s level of pain and sexual arousal. Because the relationship has shown to influence pain estimations, we considered the moderating role of perceived partner responsiveness and relationship satisfaction. We found higher disagreement in pain ratings when vaginal pressure was induced in the context of a sexual film compared to a neutral film, with men overestimating the level of pain in women. Also sexual arousal ratings diverged between partners, with men underestimating their partners’ level of sexual arousal during the induction of vaginal pressure, regardless of whether they were watching a sexual or neutral film. Importantly, the level of congruence between actual and estimated ratings of pain and sexual arousal depended on how relationally satisfied men and women were and how validated and supported women felt by their male partner. These results make an important contribution to the growing literature on the social determinants of sexual pain experiences.

Highlights

Female genital pain1 is a personal experience, it typically occurs within an interpersonal context, with the partner both triggering and witnessing the pain of the woman (Bergeron, Rosen, & Morin, 2011; Dewitte, van Lankveld, & Crombez, 2011; Rosen, Rancourt, Corsini-Munt, & Bergeron, 2014)
Moving beyond the individual implies taking into account the dyadic interaction between partners instead of studying only the impact of partner responses on the pain experience because the focus remains on the woman in pain
Because previous work has ascribed an important role to relational intimacy in determining perceptional biases and couple congruence, we considered the moderating role of relationship satisfaction and perceived partner responsiveness, with the latter being a crucial determinant of relationship intimacy

Summary

Introduction

Female genital pain is a personal experience, it typically occurs within an interpersonal context, with the partner both triggering and witnessing the pain of the woman (Bergeron, Rosen, & Morin, 2011; Dewitte, van Lankveld, & Crombez, 2011; Rosen, Rancourt, Corsini-Munt, & Bergeron, 2014). Archives of Sexual Behavior (2019) 48:2507–2518 will make inferences about the pain experience of the woman and display emotional and behavioral responses, which will, in turn, affect the woman’s experience and expression of pain (Hadjistavropoulos et al, 2011) In essence, this model coincides with an operant framework in which partner responses are mainly approached as positive or negative reinforcers of pain (Fordyce, 1976). Most adaptive are facilitative responses in which the partner encourages the woman to engage in non-painful sexual activities (Rosen et al, 2012) This operant view continues to influence the pain literature and clinical interventions, its unidirectional, instrumental focus has been criticized because it falls short in capturing the nuances and complexity of the interpersonal dynamics of pain (Bergeron et al, 2011; Cano & Williams, 2010). Moving beyond the individual implies taking into account the dyadic interaction between partners instead of studying only the impact of partner responses on the pain experience because the focus remains on the woman in pain

Results

Discussion

Conclusion