Changes in Frequency and Patterns of Marital Sexual Activity During COVID-19: Evidence from Longitudinal Data Prior to, During and After Lockdown in Singapore

This longitudinal study followed 409 Singaporean heterosexual married female respondents who completed a baseline survey in April-July 2018 and biweekly online surveys on exact dates of sexual activity over the next 14 weeks, an online survey in May 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, and an online survey in June 2020 after the lockdown was lifted. Results point to more active and flexible marital sex lives during the pandemic, with effects that persisted after the lockdown ended. The proportion who reported not having marital sex within a week fell from 54.30% in 2018 to 49.79% in 2020, while weekly sexual frequency increased from an average of 0.68 to 0.78 times. Probability of sexual activity was significantly higher on weekends prior to but not during the pandemic. Stress, fatigue and marital satisfaction was associated with probability of non-activity and sexual frequency, whereas couple’s stay-at-home status was not associated with outcomes of interest. The increase in flexibility in marital sex lives holds implications for sexual and reproductive health, including sexual satisfaction, prevalence of infertility and low birth weight associated with waiting time to pregnancy.