Psychological and sexual functioning in women with vulvar vestibulitis.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to compare psychological and sexual functioning in women with vestibulitis with healthy controls. It was hypothesized that women with vestibulitis would experience greater psychological stress and sexual dissatisfaction than controls.


METHODS
Fifty-two women with vestibulitis recruited from a vulvovaginal disease clinic and 46 healthy controls recruited from an outpatient gynecology clinic completed five standardized measures of psychological and sexual functioning. Multivariate analyses of variance and covariance were used to examine group differences.


RESULTS
Women with vestibulitis reported significantly higher scores than controls on the measures of depression (p < or = 0.001), psychological distress (p < or = 0.001) and sexual depression (p < or = 0.001). They reported significantly lower scores on the measures of sexual satisfaction (p < or = 0.001), sexual behavior (p < or = 0.001) and sexual self-esteem (p < or = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study highlight the importance of addressing psychological distress and sexual dissatisfaction in women with vestibulitis.
Gates
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EA
Department of Psychology, Warner 228, 1 University Plaza, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Platteville, WI 53818, USA. GATESE@am.uwplatt.edu
Galask
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RP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012803:Sick Role; D014847:Vulvitis / Q000523:psychology*