Sexuality and mental health during the pandemic: Associations among couples' COVID-19 anxiety, sexual communication, and sexual satisfaction. Issue 5 (20th October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Denes, Amanda; Cornelius, Talea; Guest, Chelsea; Webber, Katrina T.; Gorin, Amy A.
• Is Part Of: Communication research reports. Volume 39:Issue 5(2022)
• Page Start: 248
• Page End: 258
• Publication Date: 2022-10-20
• Subjects: Sexual communication -- COVID-19 anxiety -- sexual satisfaction -- couples; Communication -- Periodicals; 302.2
• DOI: 10.1080/08824096.2022.2120862
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0882-4096

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The present study explored the associations among COVID-19 anxiety, sexual communication, and sexual satisfaction in couples cohabitating together during the pandemic lockdown. Forty-one couples living in three major cities in the United States completed a survey during the early months of the pandemic. Multilevel modeling revealed that individuals' sexual communication was associated with their own, but not their partner's, reported sexual satisfaction. However, COVID-related anxiety was not indirectly associated with sexual satisfaction through sexual communication nor did it moderate the association between sexual communication and sexual satisfaction. These findings reveal that the well-established link between sexual communication and sexual satisfaction remained during the pandemic and that anxieties related to the pandemic did not impact this association.