In the grip of pain: Elevated momentary pain is associated with lower momentary emotional granularity in individuals with chronic pain.

Abstract

Emotional granularity (EG), or emotion differentiation, reflects the ability to distinguish between same-valenced emotional states in a nuanced way. While traditionally considered a stable trait, recent research shows that EG can fluctuate within individuals, influenced by situational factors such as stress. Building on this work, the present study investigated how momentary pain as a specific stressor relates to momentary EG in the daily lives of individuals with chronic pain. We hypothesized that individuals would exhibit lower levels of momentary EG when they experience higher than usual pain. We also hypothesized that higher scores in the three domains of executive functions (EFs)-namely, working memory, inhibition, and shifting-would buffer the negative within-person association between pain intensity and momentary EG. Between April 2022 and March 2024, 218 individuals with chronic pain (aged 14-83 years, 70% female) completed an online EF assessment and a 14-day ambulatory assessment (five prompts daily) with repeated pain and emotion ratings. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that more intense momentary pain was contemporaneously associated with lower momentary EG and predicted a decrease in momentary EG from one occasion to the next (both momentary negative and positive EG). However, these findings remained robust only for momentary positive EG when controlling for momentary mean scores of emotions. Moreover, EFs did not moderate the association between momentary pain and momentary EG. The findings suggest that pain may disrupt the ability to differentiate one's emotions, providing novel insights into maladaptive emotional processes due to pain for individuals with chronic pain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).