The Impact of the COVID-19 Quarantine on Sexual Life in Italy

The aim of the study is to evaluate how individual and couple's sexuality had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic-related quarantine. A quantitative correlational research study was conducted, using a web-based survey. About 1576 participants were involved: 1018 women (64.6%) and 558 men (35.4...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.) Vol. 147; pp. 37 - 42
Main Authors: Cito, Gianmartin, Micelli, Elisabetta, Cocci, Andrea, Polloni, Gaia, Russo, Giorgio Ivan, Coccia, Maria Elisabetta, Simoncini, Tommaso, Carini, Marco, Minervini, Andrea, Natali, Alessandro
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2021
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Coitus - psychology
Covid-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - prevention & control
Female
Humans
Italy - epidemiology
Libido
Male
Masturbation - psychology
Middle Aged
Pandemics - prevention & control
Privacy - psychology
Quarantine - psychology
SARS-CoV-2
Sex Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires - statistics & numerical data
Young Adult
Italy
ISSN:0090-4295, 1527-9995, 1527-9995
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The aim of the study is to evaluate how individual and couple's sexuality had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic-related quarantine. A quantitative correlational research study was conducted, using a web-based survey. About 1576 participants were involved: 1018 women (64.6%) and 558 men (35.4%). A significant decline in the mean well-being scores during the quarantine, compared to before, was reported. A positive correlation between the well-being scores and the number of sexual intercourse (SI) before and during the quarantine was found. The mean number of SI decreased significantly during the quarantine. The main reasons were: poor privacy (43.2%) and lack of psychological stimuli (40.9%). About 1124 respondents (71.3%) did not report sexual desire (SD) reduction. A positive association between SD and SI during the quarantine was found. About 61.2% did not report autoerotism reduction. In those who reported decreased masturbation activity, the main causes were poor privacy (46.4%) and lack of desire (34.7%). We found that men presented lower SD during the quarantine, than women (P < 0.01). Potentially, the more time available might lead couples to reconnect at an intimate level and to improve their sexuality. However, the majority of quarantined participants experienced reduced number of SI per week, with poor household privacy and lack of psychological stimuli as cited causes, even as a majority did not report reduced autoeroticism.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Gianmartin Cito and Elisabetta Micelli contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:0090-4295
1527-9995
1527-9995
DOI:10.1016/j.urology.2020.06.101