Individual Motives for Security Influence Sexual Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Amidst a global pandemic, people’ survival needs become salient and the ability for people to regulate feeling and actions might be particularly relevant to protecting oneself from harm. Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1998) proposes that people pursue their goals by having a focus on prevention (i.e., motivated by security) or promotion (i.e., motivated by pleasure). Prior research indicates that people focused on prevention (vs. promotion) are more likely to engage in health-protective behaviors, including sexual health behaviors, because they perceive more threats. Extending this reasoning to the sexual activity of single people during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a pre-registered longitudinal study (N = 174) examining the role of regulatory focus on people’s sexual behaviors. As hypothesized, results showed that single people who reported having a more prevention focus at the onset of the pandemic perceived greater threats caused by the pandemic two weeks later, which, in turn, predicted less frequent sexual activity and engagement in sex with fewer sexual partners the following two weeks. These effects were consistent even when controlling for promotion (i.e., pleasure motivations), personality, gender, and sexual orientation. Findings are discussed considering their implications for the sexual functioning and sexual health of single people.

Regulatory focus and perceived safety with casual partners: implications for perceived risk and casual sex intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Our findings regarding casual sex intentions extended our understanding of how individual motives-particularly those associated with security and pleasure-shaped sexual activity intentions during the pandemic (Rodrigues, Balzarini, et al, 2020;Rodrigues et al, 2019;Rodrigues, Lopes, et al, 2020), and under which conditions these motives were more likely to make individuals take risks with their sexual behavior (Fortenberry, 2019). We also extend current research by highlighting two important aspects of sexual behavior.…”

“…Risk perception has also shaped sexual activity during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Coombe et al, 2020;Ko et al, 2020), much like regulatory focus among people who were single (Rodrigues, Balzarini, et al, 2020). Extending these findings, individuals more focused on prevention (vs. promotion) should have weaker (vs. stronger) intentions to engage in casual intercourse and oral sex during the pandemic (H4).…”

Having a prevention regulatory focus longitudinally predicted distress and health‐protective behaviours during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Examining the role of regulatory focus during this pandemic, one study showed that people who were single and more focused on prevention perceived more pandemic‐related threats and consequently engaged in oral sex and intercourse less frequently and with fewer casual partners later on (Rodrigues, Balzarini, et al., 2021 ). Another study showed that people who were single and more focused on prevention in sexuality perceived to be well informed about the pandemic, were more likely to retrieve COVID‐19 information from reliable sources (e.g., scientific reports), were less fearful of becoming infected with COVID‐19, had fewer intentions to have casual sex (Rodrigues, 2021 ).…”

“…However, research directly examining how the regulatory focus has been shaping behaviours during the COVID‐19 pandemic is extremely limited. One study found that people who were single and more focused on general prevention (vs. promotion) reported having sex with casual partners less frequently one month later because they perceived more pandemic‐related threats (Rodrigues, Balzarini, et al., 2021 ). Another study found that people more focused on prevention (vs. promotion) in sexuality were more careful searching for information related to the COVID‐19 virus (Rodrigues, 2021 ).…”

Solitary and joint online pornography use during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal: Intrapersonal and interpersonal correlates

“…People faced different challenges to meet their affective and sexual needs during the pandemic, either because they were confined at home alone, did not have a romantic partner, had restricted physical social interactions, had less sex drive, or had difficulties dealing with pandemic-related stressors (e.g., Balzarini et al, 2020;Dewitte et al, 2020;Döring, 2020;Lopes et al, 2020;Matias et al, 2020). For example, Rodrigues, Balzarini et al (2021) found that single people driven by security motives perceived more pandemic-related threats and engaged in sexual activity less frequently later on. In another study, Luetke and colleagues (2020) found that partnered people who experienced more pandemic-related conflicts engaged in affective (e.g., hugging, kissing) and sexual behaviors (e.g., oral sex, intercourse) less frequently, experienced fewer orgasms, and felt more emotionally distant from their partner when having sex.…”