An assessment of Chinese couples living together suggests that stress related to COVID-19 has not significantly changed sexual frequency, sexual quality, or emotional bonding between partners.

The study findings, published by the Journal of Sexual Medicine as an article in press in June 2021, are based on results of an online questionnaire administered in March 2020.

SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Lockdowns in China began on January 23, 2020. Businesses were shut, travel restrictions were put into place, and people were instructed to self-isolate at home.

Few studies have focused on sexual behaviors during this time. The current study looked at the experiences of Chinese couples who lived together during the pandemic.

The participants included 1,139 adults (735 men and 404 women) with an average age of 34 years. Just over half had been in their relationship for one to five years. Almost three-quarters of the group worked full time. When they filled out the study questionnaire, none of the participants – nor their families and friends – had been diagnosed with COVID-19. No sexual dysfunctions were reported.

In March 2020, study subjects answered questions on the effects of COVID-19 on their sex lives: their weekly intercourse frequency, the quality of intercourse, and the degree of emotional bonding that took place.

They also completed the Impact of Event Scale (IES), which assessed the pandemic’s psychological effects.

For many respondents, the pandemic had no impact on sexuality. Almost 70% of the respondents said their weekly sexual frequency had not changed, and almost 80% said the quality of sex was not different. About 52% said their emotional bonding had not been not affected.

Other highlights are as follows:

• Employment status (full time or part time) appeared to have positive effects on sex lives. For example, compared to part-time employees, participants who worked full time were more likely to have a better sexual quality of life and more emotional bonding with their partner, possibly because they had less economic stress.
• Relationship duration also appeared to influence the results. Participants who had been with their partner for less than one year had sex more often and a higher sexual quality of life. These respondents may have had “high hopes for romance” in the early stage of their relationship.
• Participants who felt a moderate-to-severe psychological impact from the pandemic reported more positive experiences with emotional bonding. Couples were spending more quality time together and may have been providing more emotional support to each other, the study authors suggested.
• Participants who felt a mild psychological impact had a higher sexual frequency, possibly because they spent more time with their partners and felt emotionally well.

The authors noted that their study focused on “marital coitus” and did not account for activities like petting, kissing, masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex.

“Future studies should consider including these dimensions of sexual activity and emphasizing the gender differences and dimensions,” they wrote.

Resources

• Journal of Sexual Medicine - “The impact of mental health and stress concerns on relationship and sexuality amidst the COVID-19 lockdown”
  Zhang, Yingfei, et al.
  (Full-text. Article in press. Published: June 27, 2021)
  https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(21)00570-1/fulltext