"INSIDE" Project on Sexual Health in Spain: Sexual Life During the Lockdown Caused by COVID-19

(Un)forgotten Sex Lives During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Coping Strategies That Work and the Role of Experience

Available literature points to a worsening trend in sexual functioning, desire, and satisfaction during the pandemic. Nevertheless, virtually no empirical research was conducted on the mechanisms of coping with the pandemic's impacts on sex life. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine a variety of coping mechanisms and their perceived usefulness by people who have and have not tried these coping strategies to maintain and enhance their sex lives during the first year of the pandemic. The cross-sectional data were collected using an online survey methodology (N = 420; 66.9% women) and analyzed utilizing exploratory factor analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple regression. The results revealed nine factors/coping mechanisms (based on 59 items/strategies), including goal-setting strategies, risk and experimentation strategies, relational strategies, caution and logistical strategies, creativity and innovation strategies, substances and context-related strategies, online and technology strategies, diversion strategies, and educational strategies. Consistently, across all the specific coping strategies and overall coping mechanisms, people who tried them found them significantly more useful than those who had not tried these coping strategies. Moreover, a higher diversity of tried strategies per coping mechanism consistently and significantly predicted the perceived usefulness of that coping mechanism. These results emphasize the crucial role of experience with coping mechanisms and show that amidst COVID-related adversity and challenges, many people found ways to adapt their sex lives and enjoy silver-lining opportunities. This exploratory study offers promising evidence for potential sexual coping strategies during times of stress that could be informative for clinical practice and education.

Sexual Coping Mechanisms During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Determinants of Use, Usefulness, and Effects on Sex Life

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many people's sex lives. The ways people cope with these adverse impacts are an urgent area that needs to be recognized by sexual health researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Thus, this study investigated sexual coping mechanisms during the pandemic while clarifying their determinants of use and usefulness and examining their impacts on the quantity and quality of sex life.

Methods

The cross-sectional data (N = 675) were collected using an online survey methodology in February-May 2021. The data were analyzed with one-sample and independent-samples t-tests, one-way between-subjects ANOVA, and multivariate multiple regression.

Results

This study identified eight sexual coping mechanisms during the pandemic, including creativity and pleasure, diversion, goal-setting, relational, educational, caution and logistical, online and technological, and innovation and experimentation strategies. All the coping mechanisms were used and rated significantly useful, albeit to different degrees. Gender, availability of a sex partner, the existence of children, and age served as determinants of different coping mechanisms' scope of use and degree of usefulness. The coping mechanisms predicted the frequency of sexual activity, sexual desire, and satisfaction with sex life during the pandemic.

Conclusions

This study's results can help scholars and practitioners prevent or mitigate the deterioration of sex life during the pandemics and other crises and stressors. It is essential to train people concerning sexual coping resources and strategies to protect their sexual wellbeing and quality of life.

Policy Implications

Health researchers, practitioners, and policymakers must consider maintaining sexual health as an essential service. Recognizing sexual health, rights, education, and counseling is a prerequisite for appropriate prevention measures during the pandemic. It is vital to ensure the availability of proper resources supporting people's sexual coping processes during and after the pandemic.

Love in the Time of Corona: Predicting Willingness to Engage in Sexting During the First COVID-19-Related Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, in early 2020, lockdowns limited the options for physical intimacy and many resorted to technology-mediated forms of intimacy such as sexting. However, it is unclear what predicted willingness to engage in sexting during the lockdown. The present study filled this gap by investigating COVID-19-related social isolation, privacy concerns, age, and gender as predictors of willingness to engage in sexting. We further examined an interaction of COVID-19-related social isolation and privacy concerns on willingness to engage in sexting. We conducted online surveys with 494 young adults (Study 1) and with a quota-based sample of 437 adults (Study 2) in Austria. In both studies, negative binomial regressions revealed a positive effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting. Privacy concerns hindered young adults in Study 1 from engaging in sexting but not relatively older adults in Study 2. However, in neither study did privacy concerns moderate the effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting: Even individuals with high privacy concerns were more willing to sext under conditions of social isolation, suggesting that the need for intimacy outweighed the need for privacy protection. Gender had no effect in either study, indicating that men and women used sexting to cope with the unprecedented COVID-19-related situation.

Love in the Time of Corona: Predicting Willingness to Engage in Sexting During the First COVID-19-Related Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, in early 2020, lockdowns limited the options for physical intimacy and many resorted to technology-mediated forms of intimacy such as sexting. However, it is unclear what predicted willingness to engage in sexting during the lockdown. The present study filled this gap by investigating COVID-19-related social isolation, privacy concerns, age, and gender as predictors of willingness to engage in sexting. We further examined an interaction of COVID-19-related social isolation and privacy concerns on willingness to engage in sexting. We conducted online surveys with 494 young adults (Study 1) and with a quota-based sample of 437 adults (Study 2) in Austria. In both studies, negative binomial regressions revealed a positive effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting. Privacy concerns hindered young adults in Study 1 from engaging in sexting but not relatively older adults in Study 2. However, in neither study did privacy concerns moderate the effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting: Even individuals with high privacy concerns were more willing to sext under conditions of social isolation, suggesting that the need for intimacy outweighed the need for privacy protection. Gender had no effect in either study, indicating that men and women used sexting to cope with the unprecedented COVID-19-related situation.

An Investigation of Sexual and Relationship Adjustment During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and the mitigation measures put in place have resulted in universal disruption in the usual ways of life for individuals. The current study sought to investigate how aspects of sexual health (well-being and functioning) and relationship satisfaction changed or remained stable during the pandemic. During two separate time points (Time 1 including Time 1 and a retrospective baseline, Time 2), participants completed online measures of sexual well-being (sexual pleasure, partnered and solitary orgasm frequency, sexual distress), sexual functioning, and relationship satisfaction. Participants reported slight declines in sexual pleasure, frequency of orgasms with a partner, and frequency of solitary orgasms from pre-COVID-19 (retrospective baseline) to Time 1, with no significant differences in sexual distress and relationship satisfaction. For individuals with vulvas, sexual functioning improved from Time 1 to Time 2, whereas no significant differences in sexual functioning were observed for individuals with penises. Aspects of sexual health and relational satisfaction did not sufficiently change across time points to be considered meaningful health outcome changes. Given that minimal disruptions were noted in pre-COVID-19 to COVID-19 sexuality, these results highlight the potential resiliency of individuals' sexuality when facing sudden changes in their daily lives. Implications of COVID-19's effects on sexual well-being and relationship satisfaction research are broadly discussed.