Available online at:
https://cc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/cc%3Apsycjournal

J Camosun Psyc Res. (2021). Vol. 3(1), pp. 23-31.
Submitted Fall 2020; accepted July 2021.

How Does Social Isolation Affect Our Sex Lives?
Authors: Bronwyn MacLeod* and Isaac Kool
Supervising Instructor & Assistant: Michael Pollock and Kristina Andrew, Psyc 110
(“Experimental Psychology”)
Department of Psychology, Camosun College, 3100 Foul Bay Road, Victoria, BC, Canada V8P 5J2
*Corresponding author email: bronmacleod@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In this paper, we sought to understand the short- and long-term consequences of social
isolation on peoples’ sex drives and sexual relationships. Previous research has predicted the
effects of isolation through variables such as sexual desire, sexual activity, depending on the
amount of psychological stimulation. In our correlational study, we tested the strength of these
relationships by examining naturalistic daily changes in their variables longitudinally over a twoweek period. These included feelings of isolation, psychological stimulation, and sexual desire
measured by hourly subjective ratings, duration of isolation measured by total time each day, and
sexual activity measured by frequency of activity each day. Data pooled across our participants
showed no strong correlations of sexual activity with duration of isolation or psychological
stimulation. There was also no correlation between feelings of isolation and sexual desire.
1. Introduction

1.1 Research Problem
Sex and sexuality are deeply important
facets of the human experience and, amid
severe social isolation, people may
experience a loss of sexual autonomy. This
change can have repercussions on sexual
health, both immediate and long term. The
global crisis of Covid-19 has forced humans
to abstain from desires for community and
connection; however, the desire for sex has
not fully ceased with the restrictions on our
social lives. I am curious how people’s
relationship to sex is altered by isolation,
and how needs can still be cared for in a safe
and healthy manner. With an increase in the
number of Covid-19 cases primarily

affecting people in their early 20s to 30s,
this demographic will be forced to change
the way they interact with their sexual
desires - forcing people to consider
pornography and online sexual experiences.
Therefore, I wonder what the repercussions
will be for our society. Through
investigating the effects of social isolation
on human relations, we hope to find
solutions and resources to support sexual
health, safety and well being, both in the
midst of a crisis, and in the wake of its
effects.
1.2 Literature Review
It has been found that there is a decrease
in overall sexual desire during the social
distancing protocol. A survey was conducted
in China by Li et al. (2020); 600 men and
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600 women were invited to complete an
online questionnaire assessing their sexual
behaviour before and during quarantine. The
survey was available early in quarantine,
between March 13th and 15th, 2020. The
final analysis of the survey included 459
participants: 25% of which reported a
decrease in sexual desire. It seems that this
decrease in desire was a product of the
social separation that people are
experiencing.
It was also found that sexual activity
increased with length of social isolation. A
study conducted in the UK by Jacob et al.
(2020) surveyed 932 individuals over the
age of 18 and confirmed that they were
currently self-isolating. 868 individuals were
included in the final survey, with 39.9%
reporting to have engaged in sexual activity
at least once per week, thus categorizing
them as sexually active. It was found that the
longer that individuals spent in isolation, the
more sexual activity they reported to have:
33.5% of people that were in isolation for 05 days were sexually active, whereas the
number increased to 47% of individuals that
were in isolation for more than 11 days.
Jacob et al (2020) assert that sourcing safe
and consensual ways to have sex could show
a significant improvement in overall well
being during periods of isolation and social
distancing during the pandemic of Covid-19,
given that a decrease in sexual activity along
with social isolation has been previously
linked to potentially detrimental health
outcomes (particularly in relation to mental
health).
In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has
brought to light that, with lockdowns and
isolation, there has been a decrease in
psychological stimulation leading to less
sexual intercourse. Cito et al. (2020) created
and distributed Google-based survey
through social media platforms to study the
sex lives of couples and individuals during

the height of Italy’s lockdown, over a four
week period starting in April 2020.
Throughout the pandemic, Cito et al. (2020)
showcased that 40.9% of 1576 participants
disclosed a decrease in psychological
stimulation, with a correlation to less sexual
intercourse. Given this decrease in
psychological stimulation, it is unclear what
the long-term repercussions will have on our
sex lives and the amount of sex we have.
1.3 Hypotheses
Based on the above literature review, we
predicted the following hypotheses:
· Hypothesis #1: If feelings of isolation
increase, then sexual desire will decrease.
· Hypothesis #2: If the duration of social
isolation increases, then the amount of
sexual activity will increase.
· Hypothesis #3: If psychological
stimulation decreases, then the amount of
sexual activity will decrease.
2. Methods
2.1 Participants
The two authors of this paper served as
the participants in its studies. Participants
were both 27 years of age, and included one
male, and one female. The participants were
both undergraduate students at Camosun
College who completed the current studies
as an assignment for Psyc 110
(“Experimental Psychology”) and were
grouped together due to their mutual interest
in sexuality. Both participants reside alone.
All activity was conducted in a normal way
following the provincial and local guidelines
from Dr. Bonnie Henry.
2.2 Materials and Procedure

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We first performed a correlational study
to test concurrently all of our hypotheses by
examining naturalistic daily changes in their
variables longitudinally. Each participant
kept a study journal with them at all times
over this study’s two-week period in order to
record self-observations of the following
four variables: (1) Amount of isolation, (2)
duration of isolation, (3) psychological
stimulation, (4) sexual desire and 5) sexual
activity.
To measure the amount of isolation
each participant experienced, each
participant kept a journal and recorded a
rating of how isolated they felt on a scale of
1 to 10 (1 being feeling socially satisfied, 10
being feeling lonely and isolated) each hour
throughout the day. At the end of each day,
an average was taken of these recordings.
To measure duration of isolation,
each participant recorded the number of
hours they had spent in isolation each day.
Isolation was defined as being physically
alone, with no other people in the same
room. Online interactions were not included.
This was recorded at the end of each day in
the participants’ journals when they went to
bed.
To measure psychological stimulation,
each participant noted an hourly recording
of psychological stimulation on a scale of 1
to 10 (1 being bored, 10 being highly
stimulated). At the end of each day, each
participant took the average of their daily
recordings.
To measure sexual desire, each
participant recorded their feelings of sexual
desire in their journals on an hourly basis, on
a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being no desire at all,
and 10 being overwhelming desire). At the
end of each day, participants took the
average of their daily recordings.
To measure sexual activity, each
participant recorded their sexual activity at
the end of each day, right before they went

to bed. Sexual activity was defined as each
isolated instance of either sexual contact
with another person, or masturbation.
To assess the strength and statistical
significance of associations between
variables predicted by our three hypotheses,
we performed Pearson product moment
correlations of their predictor variable
(length of isolation) with their outcome
variables (Sexual desire, sexual activity, and
psychological stimulation). For hypothesis
#1, we correlated each day’s rating of
isolation, with each day’s rating of sexual
desire. For hypothesis #2, we correlated the
number of hours spent in isolation each day,
with each day’s amount of sexual activity.
Hypothesis #3, we correlated each day’s
rating of psychological stimulation with
each day’s amount of sexual activity. We
performed all of the above correlations
separately for each participant as well as
using data pooled across all of the
participants. For the correlations using
pooled data, in addition to using the raw
data, we also performed correlations after
we had first transformed the data from each
participant into z-scored in order to
standardize differences in averages and
variability seen between the participants in
their data and thus make them more
comparable. A correlation coefficient was
considered statistically significant if the
probability of its random occurrence (p) was
< .05 (i.e.,less than 5% of the time expected
by chance alone).
3. Results
As seen in Table 1, we had no significant
data. Sexual desire did have a slight negative
correlation with feelings of isolation using
pooled raw data (all r =-0.33), however
there was no statistical significance (p =
0.087). Duration of isolation did not appear
to have significant correlation to sexual
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activity using pooled raw data (all r = -0.12),
nor statistical significance (all p = 0.54). It
would appear that psychological stimulation
had little if no correlation to sexual activity
using pooled raw data (all r= -0.02), and
showed no statistical significance (all p =
0.93). Despite none of our hypotheses
showing a particularly strong correlation, it
appears that the feelings of isolation one
experiences had the strongest correlation
with sexual desire.
4. Discussion
4.1 Summary of Results
Based on previous research, we
hypothesized that an increase in sexual
activity would occur with an increase in
duration of social isolation, that a decrease
in sexual activity would follow a decrease in
psychological stimulation, and that a
decrease in sexual desire would follow an
increase in feelings of isolation. Data pooled
across participants in our correlational study
did not indicate support for any of our
hypotheses.
4.2 Relation of Results to Past Research
Our correlational study failed to confirm
a relationship between feelings of isolation
and sexual desire reported by previous
research. In a survey conducted by Li et al.
(2020), 25% of participants reported a
decrease in sexual desire during isolation in
the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak
(the survey was conducted between March
13 and 15, 2020). In contrast, our
participants did not find a significant effect
on sexual desire during periods of
heightened isolation. However, a key
difference is that in the study conducted by
Li et al. (2020), participants were asked to
report on sexual desire not only during a

complete isolation, but also prior to the
complete isolation. Given that the
participants in our correlational study
reported longitudinally over a two-week
period, we may be able to account for the
discrepancies between the two studies based
on the difference in time frame. Had we
experienced a period of no isolation, quickly
contrasted with a period of complete
isolation, we may have been able to notice a
more significant decrease in sexual desire.
Additionally, the participants in our study
were only experiencing partial isolation - we
were still occasionally going to work or
participating in activities. Whereas the
participants in the study done by Li et al.
(2020) compared a period of no isolation to
a period of complete quarantine. Another
discrepancy was that our study was
conducted on only two participants, whereas
the study by Li et al. (2020) was conducted
on a group of 459 participants. Our small
sample size could make it difficult to see
overall trends. Future studies could account
for these factors by recording data in more
rigid periods of isolation vs non-isolation,
and compiling data from a larger pool of
participants.
The relationship between duration of
isolation and amount of sexual activity that
was found in past research was not
noticeable in our study. Jacob et al. (2020)
had found a link between the length of time
individuals spend in isolation and the
amount of sexual activity they partake in. In
this study, they had found that 33.5% of
people that were in isolation for 0-5 days
were sexually active, whereas the number
increased to 47% of individuals that were in
isolation for more than 11 days. In our study
however, we found no clear correlation
between the two. However, there were
significant differences in our methods that
could attribute to this difference in findings.
In the study conducted by Jacob et al.
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(2020), participants were in a more strict
lockdown, as the study took place at the
beginning of COVID-19 (March, 2020).
However, the participants in our study were
both only partially isolating. Additionally, in
the study by Jacob et al. (2020), duration of
isolation was recorded in days, whereas in
our study we recorded isolation in hours. We
also discovered a slight inaccuracy when
recording our duration of isolation by hours
- since we were not including hours in which
we were asleep (and waking hours varied
daily), and we were both only spending
minimal hours with other people, it was
difficult to observe what portion of our
waking days was in isolation, and what
effect this had on our sexual activity. In
future, studies may achieve more accurate
results by recording duration of isolation as
a percentage of each day’s waking hours, or
by recording hours spent with other people
as opposed to hours spent alone.
Our findings did not replicate the
results that Cito et al. (2020) found in April
2020. Cito et al. (2020) showcased that
40.9% of participants had a decrease in
psychological stimulation leading to less
sexual intercourse. In contrast to our study,
in which we found little to no correlation
between psychological stimulation and
sexual activity. However, Cito et al. (2020)
used a sample size of 1576 participants
while we used two. While 96.8% of Cito et
al. (2020) participants stated to be in a stable
relationship, the two participants in our
study are both single. Both studies happened
during the COVID-19 pandemic however at
different stages and in different countries. In

April 2020 Italy was being hit hard by the
pandemic and was fully locked down, while
Canada in November was starting to see a
rise in cases and was in a partial lockdown
with people still being able to participate
with others. Future studies could aim to
provide more data on both people in
relationships and that are single so that we
can properly understand the lasting effects
that quarantines could have on our sexuality
for years to come.

References
Cito G., Micelli E., Cocci A., Pollonoi G.,
Russo G.I ., Elisabetta M. C., Simoncini
T., Carini M., Minervini A., & Natali A.
(2020). The impact of the COVID-19
quarantine on sexual life in Italy [PreProof]. Journal of Urology.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2020.06.
101
Jacob, L., Smith, L., Butler, L., Barnett, Y.,
Grabovac, I., McDermott, D., Armstrong,
N., Yakkundi, A., & Tully, M. A. (2020).
Challenges in the practice of sexual
medicine in the time of COVID-19 in the
United Kingdom. Journal of Sexual
Medicine, 17(7), 1229-1236.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.05.00
1
Li, W., Li, G., Xin, C., Wang, Y., & Yang,
S. (2020). Challenges in the practice of
sexual medicine in the time of COVID-19
in China. Journal of Sexual Medicine,
17(7), 1225-1228.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2020.04.38
0

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MacLeod & Kool - J Camosun Psyc Res. (2021). Vol. 3(1), pp. 23-31.

Figure 1
Scatterplot of level of isolation and sexual desire using pooled raw data across participants.

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Figure 2
Scatterplot of sexual activity and duration of isolation using pooled raw data across
participants.

Marker color indicates which participant data is from: red = participant #1, orange = participant
#2. Some data might not be visible in the figure due to overlapping markers.

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MacLeod & Kool - J Camosun Psyc Res. (2021). Vol. 3(1), pp. 23-31.

Figure 3
Scatterplot of psychological stimulation and sexual activity using pooled raw data across
participants.

Marker color indicates which participant data is from: red = participant #1, orange = participant
#2. Some data might not be visible in the figure due to overlapping markers.

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