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Talking About Sex When Sex Is Painful: Dyadic Sexual Communication Is Associated With Women’s Pain, and Couples’ Sexual and Psychological Outcomes in Provoked Vestibulodynia

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Abstract

Provoked vestibulodynia (PVD) is a recurrent vulvovaginal pain condition associated with psychological and sexual consequences for affected women and their partners, including lower quality of dyadic sexual communication compared to pain-free couples. Although greater sexual communication is associated with positive sexual and relational outcomes for both pain-free couples and couples experiencing painful sex, little is known about its role in women’s pain and psychological outcomes, especially in a relational context. The present study examined associations between dyadic sexual communication and pain, sexual satisfaction, sexual functioning, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 107 couples in which the woman was diagnosed with PVD via a standardized gynecological assessment. Women completed a measure of pain intensity, and both members of the couple completed measures of their dyadic sexual communication, sexual satisfaction, sexual functioning, and depressive symptoms. Analyses were guided by the actor–partner interdependence model. Women and partners’ own perceptions of greater dyadic sexual communication were associated with their own greater sexual satisfaction and sexual functioning, and lower depressive symptoms. Partners’ perceptions of greater dyadic sexual communication were also associated with women’s lower pain and greater sexual satisfaction. Results point to the importance of dyadic coping conceptualizations for both individual and interpersonal outcomes in PVD. Dyadic sexual communication may be a key treatment target for interventions aimed at improving the pain and psychological and sexual impairments of women with PVD and their partners.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR; MOP-69063 and MOP-130298). The authors would like to thank Maria Glowacka, Alexandra Anderson, Kathy Petite, and Mylène Desrosiers for their assistance, as well as the couples who participated in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Kate M. Rancourt, Natalie O. Rosen & Logan J. Nealis

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Natalie O. Rosen

  3. Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Sophie Bergeron

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  1. Kate M. Rancourt
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  2. Natalie O. Rosen
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Correspondence to Kate M. Rancourt.

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Rancourt, K.M., Rosen, N.O., Bergeron, S. et al. Talking About Sex When Sex Is Painful: Dyadic Sexual Communication Is Associated With Women’s Pain, and Couples’ Sexual and Psychological Outcomes in Provoked Vestibulodynia. Arch Sex Behav 45, 1933–1944 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0670-6

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