Miall, Naomi;
Aveline, Alice;
Copas, Andrew J;
Bosó Pérez, Raquel;
Baxter, Andrew J;
Riddell, Julie;
Oakley, Laura;
... Willis, Malachi; + view all
(2025)
Longitudinal Assessment of Sexual Behavior and Relationship Quality During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Britain: Findings from a Longitudinal Population Survey (Natsal-COVID).
The Journal of Sex Research (JSR)
10.1080/00224499.2024.2432000.
(In press).
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Abstract
While the impact of social restrictions on sexual and romantic life early in the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely studied, little is known about impacts beyond the initial months. We analyzed responses from 2,098 British adults (aged 18-59) taking part in the Natsal-COVID study (Waves 1 and 2). Participants were recruited via a web panel and surveyed twice: four months and one year after the start of the UK's first national lockdown (July 2020 and March 2021). Changes in the prevalence and frequency of participants' physical and virtual sexual behaviors between the two surveys were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. Changes in the quality of intimate relationships were modeled using logistic regression for the 1,407 participants in steady relationships, adjusting for age, gender, and relationship status. The reported prevalence of any sexual activity amongst the full sample increased over the study period (from 88.1% to 91.5%, aOR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.23-1.84). Increases were observed for physical (aOR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.15-1.74) and virtual (aOR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.07-1.34) activities, particularly masturbation (aOR 1.53, 95% CI 1.37-1.72). Increases were larger for men than women. The proportion of participants in steady relationships whose relationship scored as "lower quality" increased (from 23.9% to 26.9%, aOR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.10-1.49). These findings have implications for understanding sexual health needs during disasters and planning sexual health service priorities following the pandemic.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Longitudinal Assessment of Sexual Behavior and Relationship Quality During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Britain: Findings from a Longitudinal Population Survey (Natsal-COVID) |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00224499.2024.2432000 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2024.2432000 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.© 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10203852 |
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