Sexual Coping Mechanisms During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Determinants of Use, Usefulness, and Effects on Sex Life.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many people's sex lives. The ways people cope with these adverse impacts are an urgent area that needs to be recognized by sexual health researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Thus, this study investigated sexual coping mechanisms during the pandemic while clarifying their determinants of use and usefulness and examining their impacts on the quantity and quality of sex life. Methods: The cross-sectional data (N = 675) were collected using an online survey methodology in February-May 2021. The data were analyzed with one-sample and independent-samples t-tests, one-way between-subjects ANOVA, and multivariate multiple regression. Results: This study identified eight sexual coping mechanisms during the pandemic, including creativity and pleasure, diversion, goal-setting, relational, educational, caution and logistical, online and technological, and innovation and experimentation strategies. All the coping mechanisms were used and rated significantly useful, albeit to different degrees. Gender, availability of a sex partner, the existence of children, and age served as determinants of different coping mechanisms' scope of use and degree of usefulness. The coping mechanisms predicted the frequency of sexual activity, sexual desire, and satisfaction with sex life during the pandemic. Conclusions: This study's results can help scholars and practitioners prevent or mitigate the deterioration of sex life during the pandemics and other crises and stressors. It is essential to train people concerning sexual coping resources and strategies to protect their sexual wellbeing and quality of life. Policy Implications: Health researchers, practitioners, and policymakers must consider maintaining sexual health as an essential service. Recognizing sexual health, rights, education, and counseling is a prerequisite for appropriate prevention measures during the pandemic. It is vital to ensure the availability of proper resources supporting people's sexual coping processes during and after the pandemic.

Psychological, Socio-Demographic, and Logistical Factors Associated With Changes in Sex Life After Over a Year Into the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examined changes in sex life about a year into the COVID-19 pandemic for both partnered and non-partnered individuals and identified the determinants of these changes. The results of an online survey (N = 675) reflect a significant decrease in the frequency of intimate and sexual behaviors and declines in sexual desire, quality, intimacy, diversity, and satisfaction. This study also showed that socio-demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and the logistical impacts of the pandemic explain trends in people's sex lives during the pandemic. This study contributes to understanding the long(er)-term nature, scope, and determinants of changes in sex life during the pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Sexual Health is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Sex as Leisure as a Coping Mechanism with the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sex Life

This study examined the capacity of sex as leisure approach to serve as a coping strategy with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sex life and its relationships with people’s tendency to use other coping mechanisms and benefit from them. The cross-sectional data were collected using an online survey (N = 675, 65.9% women, age range:18-76yo). The analysis included t-tests and multivariate multiple regressions. Results show that many people used sex as leisure approach as a coping strategy with the impacts of the pandemic on their sex lives and found it useful. Sex as leisure approach included attitudinal, behavioral, and technologically mediated strategies. The use and capacity to benefit from sex as leisure coping strategy had significant (and in most cases, large) effects on people’s propensity to use and find useful other sexual coping mechanisms, including creativity and pleasure, diversion, goal-setting, relational, educational, caution/logistical, online and technology, and innovation/experimentation coping strategies. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Leisure Sciences is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

COVID-19’s Impacts on Community-Based Sport and Recreation Programs: The Voices of Socially-Vulnerable Youth and Practitioners

COVID-19 ravaged the delivery of sport and recreation programs and services to socially vulnerable youth. Based on the in-depth interviews with nine practitioners/volunteers working with socially vulnerable youth in Little Village, Chicago, Illinois, and their 12 youth (14–16 years old) program participants (N = 21), this study offers a constructivist grounded theory of COVID-19-imposed constraints on sport and recreation programs, their adverse impacts on socially vulnerable youth, adopted negotiation strategies, and consequent silver lining opportunities for programs to help socially vulnerable youth and struggling communities. COVID-19-imposed constraints and their effects on socially vulnerable youth were analyzed at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels. Programs’ negotiation strategies included moving to virtual and home programming, switching from indoor to outdoor activities focusing on civic responsibility, and adopting COVID-19 safety/prevention protocols. Learned lessons and unexpected opportunities amid adversity contribute to knowledge, practice, and advocacy efforts focusing on socially vulnerable youth and disadvantaged communities. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Leisure Sciences is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)