Within-person variability in relationship satisfaction moderates partners' pain estimation in vulvodynia couples

Models of pain communication propose that the social environment contributes to partners' pain estimation. This study examined partners' pain estimation in vulvodynia, an idiopathic vulvovaginal pain condition that disrupts the sexuality and relationships of affected couples. Specifically, we investigated (1) the overall bias and tracking accuracy of male partners' perceptions of women's pain during intercourse and (2) the influence of men's within-person variability in relationship satisfaction on bias and accuracy. Sixty-nine women (mean age = 28.1, SD = 6.7) diagnosed with vulvodynia and their cohabiting male partners (mean age = 29.7, SD = 8.1) participated in an 8-week daily diary study. On sexual intercourse days (mean = 6.1, SD = 5.4), men reported their perception of women's pain during intercourse and women self-reported their pain. Men reported their daily relationship satisfaction on all diary days. Men's within-person variability in relationship satisfaction was represented by the SD of relationship satisfaction scores across all daily diaries. Results indicated that men's perceptions were both accurate in that they tracked changes in women's pain and biased in that they generally underestimated this pain. Men's variability in relationship satisfaction moderated tracking accuracy such that men with higher variability manifested lower tracking accuracy for women's pain. Men's higher variability in relationship satisfaction may interfere with their motivation to accurately infer their female partner's pain. Poorer pain estimation may impair men's ability to adjust their emotional and behavioral responses to women's pain, which may have negative consequences for the couples' coping with vulvodynia.