Love in the Time of COVID-19: A Multi-Wave Study Examining the Salience of Sexual and Relationship Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Love in the Time of COVID-19: A Multi-Wave Study Examining the Salience of Sexual and Relationship Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Agnieszka E. Pollard & Ronald D. Rogge. Archives of Sexual Behavior Jan 27 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02208-0

Abstract: The current study used Family Systems Theory as a framework to clarify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual, romantic, and individual functioning. Specifically, sexual and romantic functioning were modeled as key mechanisms linking COVID-19 related stressors (as predictors) to aspects of individual functioning over time (as outcomes). A sample of 1,241 sexually active adults in relationships (47% married/engaged) was recruited from March 5 to May 5, 2020: 82% White, 66% women, M = 34 years old, 58% heterosexual. All participants completed a baseline survey and 642 participants completed at least one of the six, monthly, follow-up surveys. Multilevel SEM models evaluated the model both at the level of stable between-person differences (i.e., level 2) and at the level of within-person change across time (i.e., level 1). The findings suggested that COVID-19 related stress was predictive of lower sexual, romantic, and individual functioning in both levels of the model. Significant indirect paths supported the proposed mediation at the level of within-person change across time: elevations in COVID-19 stress within specific months predicted corresponding drops in sexual functioning, which in turn predicted corresponding drops in romantic functioning, which in turn predicted corresponding drops in individual well-being (highlighting points of intervention). In contrast, at the level of between-person differences, stable levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction across the 6 months of the study were not associated with stable levels of COVID-19 stressors (representing sources of resilience that promoted well-being) and stable levels of stress from social isolation predicted stably higher amounts of communicating affection to one’s loved ones (suggesting a need for affiliation in the face of chronic stress) whereas stable difficulties with orgasms were linked to stable irritability toward partners and depressive symptoms. Multigroup analyses suggested that the findings generalized across gender, age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, relationship stage, and cohabitation groups. Spillover effects within a Family Systems Theory framework clarify how upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic could have impacted sexual, romantic, and individual functioning in a process-oriented framework, highlighting sources of resilience (sexual satisfaction, communicating affection) and risk (orgasm difficulties).

Discussion

The current study sought to integrate key findings from the fields of individual psychopathology, research on sexual health, marital and couples research, and positive psychology by drawing key indicators from each of those fields into a large and comprehensive model. The primary goal of the study was therefore to draw upon those rich empirical traditions to develop a more nuanced understanding of precisely how the pandemic might have impacted sexual health, relationship health, and individual distress and well-being. The study applied Family Systems Theory (Broderick, 1993; Minuchin, 1985) as a conceptual framework to enrich our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated public health measures employed to flatten the curve (e.g., lockdowns, school and business closures, social distancing measures) might have impacted the lives of individuals in the US. Multilevel analyses in multi-wave data collected from a large online sample during the first 7–8 months of the pandemic in the US supported the proposed mediation at the level of within-person change across time. Thus, elevations in COVID-19 stress within specific months predicted corresponding drops in sexual functioning, which in turn predicted corresponding drops in romantic functioning, which in turn predicted corresponding drops in individual well-being. These findings highlight how the individual, sexual, and relationship systems are interconnected across time, such that disruptions in one system from an external stress (like a global health crisis) will likely spill over into other systems. In contrast, at the level of between-person differences, stable levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction across the 6 months of the study were unassociated with stable levels of COVID-19 stressors, representing sources of resilience that promoted well-being across the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Extending those positive results, stable levels of stress from social isolation predicted stably higher amounts of communicating affection to one’s loved ones, suggesting that individuals tend to reach out to those they love and strengthen those connections in the face of a massive world-wide crisis. Finally, stable difficulties with orgasms were linked to stably higher levels of irritability with partners and depressive symptoms, representing a key risk factor. Multigroup analyses suggested that the findings generalized across gender, age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, relationship stage, and cohabitation groups. Taken as a set, these findings underscored the critical nature of sexual and romantic functioning in the lives of individuals, highlighting potential sources of resilience/risk at the level of stable between-subject differences (e.g., stable levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction, and stable difficulties with orgasms), and potential warning signs and treatment targets on a monthly basis (e.g., sudden spikes in the stress of social isolation, sudden drops in current sexual and/or relationship functioning). Thus, these findings offer relevant insights for clinicians and therapists working with individuals and couples during periods of acute stress like the global health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implications

Family Systems Theory Offers an Effective Conceptual Framework The current study represents an early attempt to apply the broader family systems framework to romantic relationships which may or may not include children. As the romantic dyad is already recognized as a key system within the larger family unit, we would posit that this application of family systems theory is simply focusing in on aspects of that theory that are relevant to childfree family units, as well as to romantic dyads before they start having children. Even without a child in the home, romantic couples can be conceptualized as business partners, roommates, lovers, close friends and confidants. We would argue that from a family systems lens, each of those represent potentially distinct systems within the larger relationship. Consistent with the current findings and previous work supporting the spillover hypothesis (e.g., Sturge-Apple et al., 2006), disruptions or conflict within one of those systems can rapidly influence couples’ functioning in other systems. For example, conflict in the bedroom (i.e., poorer sexual functioning) could spillover into conflict over chores (affecting the roommate system), and drops in the support a couple provides one another (affecting the friendship system). The current study applied Family Systems Theory by examining sexual, romantic, and individual functioning as key systems within primary relationships. Consistent with Family Systems theory, the results suggested that external stressors from the COVID-19 pandemic indeed impacted all three of those systems across time, and suggested possible mechanistic paths for how those systems were interrelated. Future work in couples could therefore extend the current findings by using Family Systems theory as a conceptual framework for modeling the inter-relatedness of various dyadic processes.

There are Different Forms of COVID-19 Related Stress Although the two forms of COVID-19 related stress examined in the current study (i.e., COVID-19 concerns and social isolation stress) are by no means the only forms of stress individuals experienced during the pandemic, distinct patterns of results emerged for these two forms of stress. Specifically, COVID-19 related health concerns were significantly predictive at a between-person level across the 6 months. Greater overall levels of COVID-19 concerns across the 6 months predicted poorer sexual functioning (i.e., more orgasmic difficulties), poorer romantic functioning (i.e., greater irritability with partner), and poorer individual functioning (i.e., more depressive symptoms, lower vitality) across the 6 months. These findings are consistent with previous research indicating chronic health stress to be linked to greater depressive symptoms (e.g., Dalton et al., 2016) even 2 to 5 years later (e.g., Raposa et al., 2014), highlighting the broader links between external stress and lowered relationship functioning (see Randall & Bodenmann, 2017 for a review) and suggesting that higher COVID-19 related stress is linked to lower vitality (e.g., Peltz et al., 2020), less frequent sexual activity and affection (e.g., Luetke et al., 2020), and lower sexual satisfaction (e.g., Schmid et al., 2021). It is notable that after controlling for stable levels of COVID-19 related stress across the 6 months of the study, shifts in COVID-19 concerns within individuals within specific months failed to emerge as a significant predictor of corresponding shifts in sexual, romantic, or individual functioning. This begins to suggest that the COVID-19 health concerns assessed in the current study might reflect more chronic and stable concerns (e.g., COPD, diabetes, or some other comorbidity in oneself or in a loved one) which would be likely to impact an individual’s reactions to the pandemic in a more global manner, raising the personal relevance of the pandemic throughout the 6 months.

In contrast, current findings suggested that the stress associated with the social isolation impacted individuals both in its stable between-person differences across the 6 months, as well as through within-person fluctuations in specific months of the pandemic. Thus, this form of COVID-19 related stress demonstrated both stable trait-like properties (i.e., predictive between-person differences), as well as dynamic state-like properties (i.e., predictive within-person change across time), highlighting how both forms of differences helped to shape sexual, romantic, and individual functioning across the first 6–7 months of the pandemic in the US. These findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that greater social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic is linked to lower vitality and psychological adjustment (e.g., Arslan, 2021), and greater strain on family relationships (e.g., Evans et al., 2020).

Extending these patterns beyond the context of the current pandemic, previous work has linked social isolation and social disconnectedness to poorer individual and relationship health, specifically demonstrating social isolation to predict not only greater depressive symptoms or diagnoses (e.g., Ge et al., 2017; Matthews et al., 2016; Suwinyattichaiporn & Johnson, 2020) and lower vitality (e.g., van Steenbergen et al., 2015), but also greater physical and verbal aggression towards a romantic partner (e.g., Stets, 1991). To that effect, a randomized clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of a social isolation prevention program for older adults has indicated a significant increase in life satisfaction 1 and 6 months post-program among those who received treatment, whereas those within the control group saw no change (Saito et al., 2012). The current study therefore builds on previous findings not only by demonstrating the impact of COVID-19 related social isolation on sexual and romantic functioning, and by highlighting sexual and romantic functioning as possible mechanisms, but also by distinguishing the between-person and within-person associations of social isolation.

Exploring Other Forms of COVID-19 Related Stress. Although the two forms of COVID-19 related stress examined in the current study yielded distinct and meaningful results, future work could extend the current findings by examining additional forms of stress that individuals might experience during a pandemic. For example, it could also be useful to examine how financial/employment instability or the stress of new parenting demands impacted various forms of interpersonal and individual functioning during the pandemic. The current results begin to suggest that those alternative forms of stress could very likely offer their own predictive patterns within the Family Systems Theory framework.

Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction Emerged as Key Mechanisms. At the within-person level, sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction significantly mediated the association between social isolation stress and individual functioning. Spikes in social isolation stress shaped corresponding decreases in sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction, which then let to more depressive symptoms and lower vitality. Thus, the adverse impact of social isolation on sexual and romantic functioning served to intensify the direct associations between social isolation stress and poorer individual functioning. These findings are consistent with spillover effects (e.g., Sturge-Apple et al., 2006) as conceptualized within Family Systems Theory (Broderick, 1993; Minuchin, 1985) as well as other research indicating links between greater sexual functioning and mental health (e.g., Costa & Brody, 2012; Levin, 2007; Palmore, 1982). The current findings build on previous research by examining associations between acute stress, sexual functioning, relationship functioning, and individual well-being within a broader multivariate, conceptual framework evaluated across time. This allowed us to directly model modeling how pandemic-related stress adversely impacted individual well-being through a cascade of lower sexual satisfaction and correspondingly lower relationship satisfaction. These findings may illuminate possible points of intervention, as the results suggested that partnered individuals with robust levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction would have experienced some protection from the adverse impact of social isolation stress across time via the direct and indirect links from those mechanisms to individual outcomes.

Stable Difficulties with Orgasms as a Mechanism. Higher chronic levels of COVID-19 stress across the 6 months of the study were directly linked to higher chronic levels of irritability within relationships. That association was also strengthened by chronic COVID-19 stress predicting chronic difficulties with orgasms, which in turn predicted greater irritability across the 6 months of the study. Thus, stable between-person differences in orgasm difficulties served as a potential mechanism more tightly linking those variables. These findings are consistent with previous work indicating that sexual dysfunctions have been linked to negative conflict in relationships (e.g., Metz & Epstein, 2002). Extending these quantitative findings, qualitative analyses of interviews of 20 Iranian women highlighted conflict and annoyance with a partner as key obstacles to reaching orgasm during sexual activity (Nekoolaltak et al., 2017). Those qualitative findings dovetail the current findings, suggesting that the links between orgasm difficulties and irritability within relationships might be transactional in nature, reciprocally influencing one another across time. The current findings further suggested that chronic levels of orgasm difficulties across the 6 months served to intensify the direct association between higher chronic COVID-19 stress and greater depressive symptoms across the 6 months of the study. This is consistent with previous findings linking orgasm difficulties to greater depressive symptoms (e.g., Castellini et al., 2010; Forbes et al., 2016; Shifren et al., 2008). The current study contextualizes those previous findings within the Family Systems Theory, helping to highlight the potential mediating roles of difficulties with orgasms.

Sexual Satisfaction as a Source of Resilience. One of the strongest indirect paths to emerge in the model was at level 2 (the level of stable between-person differences on average levels of each construct across the 6 months of the study) and involved sexual satisfaction as a predictor. Contrary to our expectations, stable levels of COVID-19 related stress across the first 6 months of the pandemic in the United States were not significantly predictive of corresponding stable levels of sexual satisfaction. This would suggest that at an aggregate level (i.e., across all partnered participants) individuals’ overall levels of sexual satisfaction were on average unaffected by COVID-19 related stress. These results are consistent with the mixed findings concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual health (e.g., Panzeri et al., 2020). They suggest that for individuals in relationships with high levels of sexual functioning, their sexual health could serve as a source of resilience whereas for individuals in relationships with low levels of sexual functioning, their sexual difficulties could serve as a source of risk. Consistent with this, stably high levels of sexual satisfaction across the six months of the study were not only directly predictive of higher stable levels of vitality, but were also strongly linked to higher stable levels of relationship satisfaction, which in turn predicted even higher vitality across the first six months of the pandemic. Thus, sexual satisfaction emerged as a key factor fueling well-being in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting its key roles in individual health and well-being (e.g., Costa & Brody, 2012; Levin, 2007; Palmore, 1982).

Communicating Affection as a Source of Resilience. An unexpected finding emerged suggesting that stable between-person differences in COVID-19 health concern stress across the 6 months predicted greater stable levels of communicating affection to loved ones across those 6 months. Thus, fears over contracting COVID-19 and potentially getting sick themselves or losing loved ones seemed to help individuals prioritize their close relationships, spurring them on to share their love and affection with the people around them. These findings are consistent with the literature suggesting that connection with others is a fundamental human need (e.g., Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and that individuals are driven to affiliate (i.e., tend and befriend others) under conditions of stress (e.g., Taylor, 2002, 2006). In fact, the communication of affection has been shown to be an effective coping mechanism as it has been shown to help buffer couples from the strain of a new child on their romantic relationships (Shapiro et al., 2000). The current findings are also consistent with recent theoretical assertions (based on applying the Family Systems Theory to the pandemic) that adaptive relationship processes could likely buffer the link between pandemic stress and well-being (Pietromonaco & Overall, 2021). The current study therefore builds on previous work by demonstrating affiliation (via the communication of affection) as an effective coping mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Limitations and Future Directions

The current study builds on a body of predominantly cross-sectional work by analyzing longitudinal data collected from a robust sample during a critical time in history, while the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread through the United States. By drawing key constructs from multiple fields of study (individual psychopathology, positive psychology, sexual health, and couples and marital research) and integrating them within a Family Systems Theory framework, the current study also sought to provide a more nuanced understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of individuals in the US. The results underscored the importance of sexual and romantic functioning as potential mechanisms linking COVID-19 related stress to individual well-being, thereby highlighting potential sources of resilience and risk.

Despite these strengths, a number of issues limit the current findings. First, the current data was analyzed in a sample predominantly made up of white individuals and women. Although our large sample size provided 419 men and 231 non-white individuals, future studies with more diverse samples are needed to explore the generalizability of the current findings. Second, the study relied solely on self-report data, raising concerns of responses being limited by: possible lack of insight (i.e., being unaware or out of touch with one’s own behavior and/or internal experiences and therefore having a difficult time accurately completing self-report scales), potential reporting biases, and social desirability. To address this, future studies could collect data from multiple informants (i.e., including data from participants’ friends, family members, and/or romantic partners), collect observational data, and assess possible response biases to ensure the results remain consistent when such limitations are addressed. Extending this point, although social desirability has been shown to be somewhat less of a problem for survey data collected online (Richman et al., 1999), the current study did not specifically assess levels of socially desirable responding. Thus, future studies could examine this as a possible source of additional variance in models of functioning during pandemics. Third, the current sample consisted of data from only one partner from each couple, providing a one-sided perspective on each relationship. Future research would benefit from collecting data from both romantic partners, providing a more balanced view of the relationships and enabling dyadic analyses. Fourth, although this study examined two specific forms of COVID-19 related stress, the pandemic and associated public health measures created a wide range of chaos and upheaval to daily life across the globe. Thus, future work could extend these findings and the Family Systems Theory by examining other sources of stress and upheaval as potential predictors. Fifth, recruitment for the current study just as the pandemic was beginning to draw national attention in the United States and as a result, the study did not include a truly pre-pandemic baseline for a majority of the participants and the baseline survey did not include measures of COVID-19 related stress. Thus, although the current findings speak to how the constructs examined fluctuated in response to one another across time during a pandemic, they do not provide insights on how those dynamics might have changed in comparison to pre-pandemic functioning. Future work could seek to examine components of this same model once the pandemic has largely resolved to determine the degree to which the associations between various relationship systems (i.e., sexual, romantic, and individual functioning) were specific to the context of the pandemic or were more broadly representative of relationship dynamics. Sixth, although the study title, “The Finding Pleasure in Sex Study” effectively communicated to prospective participants the contents of the survey, that title could have inadvertently encouraged the participation of people with more sex-positive attitudes and with greater comfort discussing sexuality and sexual behavior. Balancing this concern, for a majority of the respondents (i.e., those recruited after the mid-March 2020 modification of the study), the bulleted list presenting the details of the study immediately following that title included a bullet referring to tracking the effects of COVID-19 across time: “Track the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of individuals” thereby increasing the relevance of the study to a broader range of individuals. Future work could explore the current model using a less sexualized title to help reduce the risk of biasing the sample. Extending that concern, the study made use of a convenience sample, thereby introducing possible selection bias. Future work could use random sampling techniques to help ensure the representativeness of the final sample. Seventh, several of the measures used in the current study were developed by the authors given the tight timeframe for starting a COVID-19 focused project. Future work could therefore extend research on this model and these hypotheses by examining them using existing measures that are well validated within the current literature. Eighth, although the analyses demonstrated reasonable model invariance across multiple demographic groups and controlled for parent and employment status as possible confounds, it is still likely that factors not included in the current model might have also helped to shape the sexual, romantic, and individual functioning of individuals during the first six months of the pandemic. Thus, future work could extend the current findings by examining a broader set of potential confounds. Extending that point, despite highlighting sexual functioning and romantic functioning as key factors influencing the impact of the pandemic on people in relationships, those are not the only possible sources of risk and resilience for individuals. Thus, future work could extend the current work by examining a broader set of risk/resilience factors including: (1) background factors and traits (e.g., sex positivity/erotophilia, trait negativity, optimism, grit, mindfulness, psychological flexibility, adult attachment), (2) other relationship subsystems (e.g., friendship/support/intimacy, business/financial, roommate/chores/distribution of labor), and (3) other external factors (e.g., work stress, conflict or stress within individuals’ extended family/friend network). Ninth, although over 600 respondents provided follow-up data, roughly 40% of our baseline parents did not complete any follow-up surveys. This level of attrition is not uncommon for online studies involving no monetary compensation (e.g., Daks et al., 2021) and was likely due in part to the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of individuals. Strengthening this concern, although attrition analyses failed to find differences on levels of income or vitality at baseline, those analyses suggested that the respondents providing follow-up data were somewhat more likely to be white, heterosexual, women, engaged/married, have graduate degrees, and who were slightly older with slightly fewer depressive symptoms. Thus, despite having roughly 1800 distinct longitudinal assessments from over 600 respondents supporting our models (above and beyond the baseline assessments from all respondents), future longitudinal studies could extend the current study by seeking funding to help reduce attrition, thereby ensuring that the subtle attrition differences within the current study are not unduly influencing the results. Tenth, although a majority of the sample were in fairly long-term relationships (63% together for 3 + years, 71% together for 2 + years), 18% of the individuals had been in their relationships for less than a year and 10% had been with their partners less than 6 months, suggesting fairly high levels of heterogeneity in the relationships represented in the sample. Fortunately, the model results remained invariant across relationship stages and across cohabiting vs non-cohabiting couples, suggesting that the results generalized across the wide range of relationship stages included in the study, thereby reducing concerns about relationship heterogeneity. Future work could serve to replicate the current findings by examining similar models within more specific stages of romantic relationships. Despite these limitations, the results offer compelling evidence suggesting sexual and romantic functioning as buffering mediators between COVID-19 related stress and poor individual functioning.

Those who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours (spatial distance, hygiene) & support for public health policies (closing bars/restaurants), at least Apr-May 2020

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic. Jay J. Van Bavel et al. Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 517. Jan 27 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27668-9

Abstract: Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Discussion

Our research suggests that national identities might play an important role in the fight against a global pandemic. Following World War II, early work in social psychology had a tendency to focus on the negative side of nationalism and leadership persuasion, such as destructive obedience to authority54 and group conformity to incorrect beliefs held by others55. In the decades since then, research on social identity10 and a “social cure” approach to mental health56 has revealed that there is also a pro-social side to group identity. Based on this latter perspective we predicted, and found, that NI was positively associated with support for and engagement with public health behaviours around the globe.

In two global studies combining person-level and country-level analyses, the strength of national identity robustly predicted public health support, operationalized as behavioural health intentions (i.e., physical distance and physical hygiene), support for COVID-19 policy interventions, and reduced physical movement patterns during the pandemic. We found this pattern with self-report measures at the person-level and using measures of actual mobility at the country level. The fact that national identity is associated with large-scale behaviour in real life provides ecologically valid evidence for our main hypothesis. Taken together, these results are consistent with our hypothesis that NI is related to greater behaviour change in compliance with public health policies. We note that the results showing a decline in mobility should be treated with caution, as in the mobility report location accuracy and the categorization of places can vary between countries. In short, people who identified more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement with critical public health measures around the globe.

These results are consistent with the social psychological literature on the benefits of identifying with one’s social groups. They also underscore a potential benefit of NI, which might be salient during a national or global health crisis23. Our research provides evidence that this form of identification might help to understand public health behaviours. However, work in the United States has found that threats to national identity can lead to less support for public health initiatives57. As such, mobilizing people around a shared national identity might require considerable nuance. Future work should examine the impact of different types of identity appeals during a pandemic and isolate the causal influence of national identity on real behaviour.

There is reason to believe that other forms of group identification can undercut public health. For instance, partisanship within countries (i.e., when people strongly identify with a specific political party) is associated with risky behaviour25,26,58. For example, one study that used geo-tracking data from 15 million smartphones in the US found that counties that voted for a Republican (Donald Trump) over a Democrat (Hillary Clinton) exhibited 14% less spatial distancing during the early stages of the pandemic26. These partisan gaps in distancing predicted subsequent increases in infections and mortality in counties that voted for Donald Trump. Moreover, partisanship was a stronger predictor of distancing than many other economic or social factors (e.g., county-level income, population density, religion, age, and state policy). This may be due to leadership, social norms, and media consumed by people from different identity groups. As such, stronger group identification is not always associated with engagement in public-health behaviour.

It is tempting to conclude that PI might account for these relationships. However, we found that right-wing PI had a positive, moderate correlation with both NI and NN, but very weak correlations with support with public health measures in our multi-country sample. Specifically, right-wing political beliefs were associated with less support for COVID-19 public health policies, compared to left-wing political beliefs. This relationship between political beliefs and compliance has been observed in several countries (e.g., refs. 48,49,59). Similarly, while NI and NN were associated positively with support for public health measures, right-wing PI was negatively associated with these outcomes. This suggests that a collective identity might be associated with valuing the protection of the entire group during a pandemic, even after adjusting for their ideological differences.

It is also important to note that the relationship between national identity and public health support was distinct from NN. In past research, NN has predominantly been linked to problematic attitudes towards both out-group and in-group members38,40,60. However, we found that NN was positively associated with self-reported physical hygiene and support for COVID-19 preventative policies (cf. ref. 42). Still, these effects were much smaller than those for national identity and depended on the context. Future work should thus carefully consider cross-national differences in human development as well as social norms associated with national identity.

Our evidence suggests that national identity may have modest predictive value for people’s endorsement of and adherence to public health measures in the context of a pandemic. This information may be leveraged to create a sense of inclusive nation-based in-groups, potentially increasing engagement with recommended policies. Political and public health leaders might develop effective communication strategies to appeal to a sense of NI. Indeed, this might be particularly helpful in highly polarized countries where adherence to public health recommendations has become a partisan issue (see ref. 26). For instance, Canadian leaders across the political spectrum adopted similar messaging about the serious risks of the current pandemic which resulted in a rare moment of cross-partisan consensus among the public61. Such recategorizations to overarching inclusive national groups (e.g., ref. 62) may be effective for preventing unhealthy behaviours. As such, leaders who wish to inspire public health behaviour might benefit from connecting the issue to feelings of national identity. Framing these messages at the level of the nation rather than, for instance, a partisan group, region, or municipality also makes sense when the response requires national coordination22,63.

However, the effective application of these appeals requires future research as national identity is also implicated in intergroup conflict. This is more likely in the case of NN36,60, which tends to be associated with lower solidarity with other groups in crisis (e.g., ref. 64). In the absence of collective narcissism, national identity could reflect not only concerns about protecting one’s own country, but also into concern for other nations. Indeed, prior research has found that NI is associated with more positive attitudes towards other nations—especially when adjusting for NN37,45. Thus, the nature of national identity might be an important determinant of the effectiveness of identity and the potential for international cooperation. In addition, it could turn out that a commitment to cosmopolitanism or other supranational identities and ideologies may play a role that bolsters what we have seen in the case of national identity65.

One major strength of our paper is the scope of nations we included in our samples. The first study included data from 67 nations and the second study included data from 42 countries. The vast majority of published research in psychology and social sciences has been conducted in so-called WEIRD cultures66, typically restricted to the narrow western and educational setting of American or European university students, and non-representative participants from industrialized, rich and democratic countries. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, is a truly global issue underscoring the importance of gathering samples outside these WEIRD cultures. Moreover, it was striking to see that the same person-level association between NI and our public health measures was in the same direction in almost every country we studied. Although we managed to collect data from a wide variety of countries and territories, we were unable to obtain samples from every nation (especially in Africa and the middle east). As such, we encourage future research in these countries to see if the same dynamics are at play.

Another element of our paper was an attempt to collect representative or stratified samples in Study 1. While most studies in psychology focus on convenience samples (e.g., undergraduate or MTurk participants), it is important to gather samples that are more diverse with regards to gender, age, and other key risk factors during a pandemic. Collecting representative samples affords the opportunity to help make better generalizations to the wider population within each country as well as the broader sample of countries around the globe. Due to funding constraints, we were not able to obtain representative samples from most nations. As such, we are unable to make strong generalizations about the populations in those countries. But note that we did directly compare the findings in more vs. less representative samples and found no significant difference in the overall relationship between NI and all three public health measures (see Supplementary Information for details).

This research was correlational and conducted during the early phase of the pandemic. Although a causal relation between NI and public health behaviour makes sense from a theoretical perspective, we cannot rule out the possibility that public health behaviour causes NI, or that both are caused by a third variable (e.g., ref. 23). Moreover, we have no evidence whether this pattern would apply during later stages of the current or future pandemics. Indeed, national identity may increase during times of crisis as people recognize their duty as citizens to help respond to this issue. We encourage future work to experimentally manipulate the salience of NI or frame health messages in a way that highlights the link between identification and the public health measures. Another limitation is the exclusive focus on national groups rather than, for instance, identification with a city, region, religion, or ethnic group—or, for that matter, all of humanity. Some research suggests that local leaders may be ineffective if their advice contradicts a national leader (see ref. 26). In the current pandemic, nations have been among the most important actors for implementing policy or promoting national health guidelines, but sub-national units and international organizations such as the World Health Organization also play an important role.

The COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the world is one of the most devastating global health crises of the past century. Until a verifiably safe and effective vaccine or therapeutic treatment is universally administered, efforts to inspire collective action for greater compliance with public health measures remain a central challenge when mitigating the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (e.g., spatial distancing, physical hygiene, and support for health policies). Moreover, understanding social identity and collective behaviour likely plays a key role in vaccination efforts67. Our large-scale studies suggest that identification with one’s nation is positively associated with support for and engagement in critical behavioural public health measures. Understanding the role of social identity appears to be an important issue when addressing public health crises.

The relationship between infidelity risk and oral sex: An independent replication of Pham and Shackelford (2013) and Pham et al. (2013)

The relationship between infidelity risk and oral sex: An independent replication of Pham and Shackelford (2013) and Pham et al. (2013). Rebecca B. Koessler et al. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 189, April 2022, 111496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111496

Highlights

• Oral sex has been suggested to be an adaptation to detect unfaithful partners.

• Oral sex has been shown to be related to partner infidelity risk for men, not women.

• Only null results regarding this association were replicated for women.

• A statistical error was identified in the original article.

• Support for this proposed evolutionary explanation of oral sexual behavior is mixed.

Abstract: In two studies, Pham and Shackelford (2013) and Pham et al. (2013) analyzed the relations between oral sexual behavior and partner infidelity risk in heterosexual couples. They found that indicators of partners' risk of infidelity were significantly associated with men's, but not women's interest in, and time spent performing oral sex after controlling for relationship length, relationship satisfaction and duration of sexual intercourse. We conducted a preregistered close replication of the methods and analyses of these studies using two distinct samples. In both samples, partner infidelity risk was not significantly associated with greater interest in and duration of oral sex for men or for women. The associations between infidelity risk and oral sexual behaviors were not significantly different between men and women, consistent with the original research. Exploratory analyses showed participants who suspected their partners of being unfaithful had significantly lower scores on the partner infidelity risk measure than those who did not hold those suspicions in Sample 1, while no significant difference emerged in Sample 2. These findings challenge the validity of the original partner infidelity risk measure. Overall, the current study offers contradictory evidence for the proposed evolutionary explanation for the adaption of oral sexual behaviors in humans.

Keywords: Infidelity riskOral sexReplication

Through improving the contractual structure, the China Fortune Land Development Co. model has been approved to be a more efficient way than traditional PPPs to promote large-scale comprehensive developments by reducing transaction costs

Rising private city operators in contemporary China: A study of the CFLD model. Yongli Jiao, Yang Yu. Cities, Volume 101, June 2020, 102696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102696

Highlights

• Through improving the contractual structure, the CFLD model has been approved to be a more efficient way than traditional PPPs to promote large-scale comprehensive developments by reducing transaction costs.

• We can reconsider and reexplain the urbanization process in China from the perspective of transaction cost economics.

• China’s market reform is characterized by the dual-track structure in which the state-led and grassroots reforms co-exist. And we summarize the interactive mechanism of the state-led and grassroots reforms as “ex ante hands-off, ex post endorsement”.

• The emergence of the CFLD model means that China’s market reform has reached the core of planned economic system and market forces have extended from private goods to public goods.

Abstract: In the past decade, with the rise of private investment in urban development in China, there has been a profound transformation from government-led to market-led urban growth. These changes have created a boom in private city operators who have become involved in large-scale urban development and established long-term close public-private partnerships with local governments, integrating and optimizing all of the resources in a city or region. In this new business environment, China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. (CFLD) has undoubtedly been the earliest and most successful private city operator. This study uses the framework of transaction costs to analyze the CFLD model in detail, using the case of Gu'An New Industry City. We illustrate how it has reduced the principal-principal problem, the firm hold-up problem, and the government-led hold-up problem, the three types of transaction costs inherent in public-private partnerships, by improving the contractual structure. We believe it will become a far-reaching institutional innovation as an alternative to the land finance system to promote urbanization in contemporary China and beyond.

Keywords: Private city operatorTransaction costsContractual structurePublic-private partnershipsThe CFLD modelGu'An New Industry City

Social Status Predicts Different Mating and Reproductive Outcomes for Men and Women in China: Evidence from the 2010-2017 CGSS Data

Social Status Predicts Different Mating and Reproductive Outcomes for Men and Women in China: Evidence from the 2010-2017 CGSS Data. Yikang Zhang, Pekka Santtila. Research Square Pre-Prints, Jan 18 2022. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1005378/v1

Abstract: Evolutionary psychological theories posit that higher social status is conducive to men’s reproductive success. Extant research from historical records, small scale societies, as well as industrialized societies, support this hypothesis. However, the relationship between status difference between spouses and reproductive outcomes has been investigated less. Moreover, even fewer studies have directly compared the effect of status and status difference between spouses on reproductive outcomes in men and women. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) conducted between 2010 and 2017 (N = 55,875; 28,931 women) and operationalizing social status as standardized income and educational level (compared with same-sex peers), we examined how social status and relative status between spouses impact men’s and women’s mating and reproductive outcomes. We found that (1) men with higher social status were more likely to have long-term mating (being in a marriage and/or not going through marriage disruption) and reproductive success, mainly through having a lower risk of childlessness; (2) women with higher social status were less likely to have mating and reproductive success; and (3) relative status between spouses had an impact on the couple’s reproductive success so that couples, where the husband had higher status compared to the wife, had higher reproductive success. Thus, social status positively impacted men’s reproductive success, but relative status between spouses also affected mating and impacted childbearing decisions. 

Keywords: Social status, Mating success, Reproductive Success, Fertility

DISCUSSION

We utilized the 2010-2017 CGSS data to examine how social status is associated with Chinese men and women's mating and reproductive outcomes. In our analyses, due to the rapid expansion of education over the last few decades in China, we used statistical operations to separate the effect of standardized educational level (among same-sex peers) and absolute educational attainment. The results suggest that social status measured by standardized education level and income still predict reproductive success in terms of marital status and whether there are offspring in contemporary China. Furthermore, relative social status between spouses predicted the likelihood of having children and age at marriage among first-time married couples.

Effects of Social Status on Mating and Reproductive Outcomes

After isolating the effect of absolute educational attainment, men with a higher social status than their peers in terms of standardised education and income were more likely to be in a long-term relationship and stay in it. This result is consistent with the evolutionary hypothesis that higher social status is conducive to men’s mating success. In contrast, for women, social status had the opposite effect. However, the results do not warrant the conclusion that higher social status women have lower long-term mate value in the eyes of men. Although educated women have been perceived as less desirable, especially in cultures holding traditional gender roles (Bertrand, Cortes, Olivetti, and Pan 2020, Hwang 2016), this decreased desirability may reflect the status concerns of men rather than the low mate value of high- social status women.

Furthermore, past research has suggested that women exhibit greater hypergamy than men (Van Den Berghe 1960). Therefore, women with higher income may tend to choose from men who earn more than they do, and as a result, they face a much smaller mating pool, increasing the difficulty of finding a suitable long-term mate. On the other hand, men may also prefer women who have equal or lower social status compared with themselves, which has been a successful reproductive strategy in the past (Bereczkei and Csanaky 1996). The penalty educated women face in the mating market (Bertrand, Cortes, Olivetti, and Pan 2020, Hwang 2016) may result from social status concerns men may have (i.e., men may prefer to have partners who have relatively lower social status).

As for reproductive outcomes, a higher standardised income and education level were associated with more children for men. However, closer examination revealed that standardised education and income were only significant in predicting the first child for men. For women, a higher social status was associated with a decreased likelihood of having children. Combined with previous studies showing that the social status-fertility relationship is primarily driven by the high risk of childlessness among lower social status men (Kolk and Barclay 2021), the current results suggest that social status, in terms of income and standardized education level, positively contribute to men’s but not women’s reproduction. This is done through mating success and a better chance at transitioning to parenthood instead of having more offspring in an industrialized societal setting. Moreover, the current results are consistent with previous studies in Western populations (Hopcroft 2006, Fieder and Huber 2007, Hopcroft 2021), suggesting that Chinese data are an appropriate and integral part of evolutionary demographic research. However, it is also important to note that fertility is a complex issue that is not only influenced by an individual's social status but also societal changes (Newson et al., 2007), culture (McQuillan 2004), social welfare (Mills et al. 2011), and family planning policies (Liu and Liu 2020). Specifically, the way in which social status is associated with fertility change depending on regional or national social policies. For example, in more recent cohorts in Nordic countries, the negative relationship between women's educational level and fertility is diminishing due to social welfare reforms (Jalovaara et al., 2019).

Relative Status between Spouses for Predicting Mating and Reproductive Outcomes

Men who married relatively lower-social status women entered their marriages earlier and married a younger wife compared with those who married relatively high-social status women. This result is consistent with our hypothesis that men may make a trade-off between their partners’ social status (relative to themselves) and availability, as well as fecundity. However, as women do not necessarily prefer younger men as mates, we did not hypothesize a relationship between women’s status relative to their partner and their partner’s age. From Figure 1, it is clear that women with a higher social status than their spouses married later and had older spouses. However, after controlling for their own age, we did find a weaker but significant negative effect of educational difference on the partner’s age for women. Therefore, though women with relatively higher social status compared with their spouses had older spouses, this pattern is mainly driven by the fact that higher social status women enter marriage at an older age.

For reproductive outcomes, men who had higher relative social status than their spouses were more likely to have children. On the other hand, women were less likely to have children if their relative social status was higher. Notably, this pattern was significant after controlling for the couple's household income and average educational level, suggesting that relative social status in terms of resource potential may impact women’s childbearing decisions. In Figure 1, it is easy to see that besides hypergamy, homogamy is also associated with higher reproductive success. This is consistent with previous research, suggesting that both hypergamy and homogamy are successful strategies (Bereczkei and Csanaky 1996). The current results indicate that the relative social status difference between partners is more useful in predicting reproductive outcomes.

One may be concerned that the observed relationship could be explained solely by women, not men, being more likely to stop their education after having their first child and, thus, having a lower education level than their husbands. Another mechanism for this phenomenon, that does not require an evolutionary strategic explanation, would be personality differences. That is, women with stronger career motivations may devote more energy to advancing their social status and are, thus, less likely to have children. Both hypotheses would receive additional support if the observed phenomenon were present only in cases with a higher educational background. However, using only cases where education was no higher than high school or its equivalent (i.e., a subset where childbirth conflicts less with pursuing an education and a career), we replicated the findings that if the male partner has a relatively higher social status, the couple will have higher fertility (see Table S6 in supplementary materials). As for evolutionary explanations, whether the relationship is because women are more likely to bear children if their partner has a relatively higher social status or because women’s relative social status versus their partner’s is simply a more accurate way to measure social status within a subpopulation, demands further research. If the former is true, investigating whether this pattern is driven by a worse relationship associated with hypogamy (Kaukinen 2004) could also be a research topic of both theoretical and practical value. It could inform policymaking that may ameliorate the fertility decline, such as promoting a culture where social status is less determined by personal income and education and more associated with aspects of familial and social life.

Limitations and Future Directions

Though the CGSS data provided us with a large representative sample with several mating and reproductive success measures, it has several limitations. First, in measuring reproductive success, most of the surveys in CGSS did not differentiate between biological versus non-biological children, nor did the measurements exclude children who were deceased before reaching the age of reproduction. Second, the surveys were not linked with official records. Thus, the data could suffer from inaccurate self-reporting, especially for men’s reproductive success (Hopcroft 2021), which is also supported by the current analysis that, on average, women (M = 1.57, SD = 1.06) had significantly more children than men (M = 1.43, SD = 1.04), F (1, 55653) = 256.6, p <.001. Third, income from the previous year is not an accurate measure of social status compared with wealth. This might explain the fact that standardized education was a slightly better predictor in our models. Finally, the analyses only provide correlational, but not causal, evidence due to its cross-sectional design. These limitations should be noted when making inferences.

As for the analyses, to make the current research more focused and concise, we controlled regional and ecological differences with random intercepts for rural and urban areas for each provincial region. However, it is well acknowledged that in China, rural-urban dualism (Zhang, Sun, and Liu 2021) and ecological features such as agricultural style (Talhelm and English 2020) impact behavioural patterns. Therefore, how these differences are reflected in reproductive decisions and outcomes should be conceptualized and examined.

Regarding the interpretations of the findings, especially for the sex differences found in our research, we should consider the cultural and demographical differences between China and other regions. For example, the sex ratio bias in China could also be a causal factor for the above results. Because the sex ratio is biased toward men, women would, in theory, have more bargaining power in the mating market, biasing both sexes toward high investment. The potential influence of the family planning policy should also be taken into consideration. The fact that social status only positively predicted the likelihood of having the first child for men could result from the former one-child policy in China rather than reflect an inherent feature of the social status-reproduction relationship.

Studying the relationship between social status and reproductive success is only part of the picture. Thus, researchers should also integrate findings from other areas of evolutionary science — for example, the study of personality and individual differences conferring social status (Durkee, Lukaszewski and Buss 2020), and behavioural genetics that links traits and genes (for a recent review, see Harden 2021). Specifically, recent research examining how the education-reproduction link could influence human population genetics found that because of the negative relationship between education and reproduction, selection has favoured genetic variants associated with low educational attainments (Beauchamp 2016; Kong et al. 2017). Future research could extend our understanding by investigating the relationships between social status-conferring traits (phenotypes), genetics, and educational and financial achievements together and contextualizing the observed patterns by incorporating cultural and ecological factors.

Early Concepts of Intimacy: Young Humans Use Saliva Sharing to Infer Close Relationships

Thomas, Ashley J., Brandon M. Woo, Daniel Nettle, Elizabeth Spelke, and Rebecca Saxe. 2022. “Early Concepts of Intimacy: Young Humans Use Saliva Sharing to Infer Close Relationships.” PsyArXiv. January 20. doi:10.31234/osf.io/xgfp7

Abstract: Across human societies, people form ‘thick’ relationships, characterized by strong attachments, obligations and mutual responsiveness. People in thick relationships engage in distinctive interactions, like sharing food utensils or kissing, that involve sharing saliva. Here we show that children, toddlers, and infants infer that dyads who share saliva (compared to other positive social interactions) have a distinct relationship. Children expect saliva sharing to happen in nuclear families. Toddlers and infants expect that people who shared saliva will respond to one another in distress. Parents confirm that saliva sharing is a valid cue of relationship thickness in their children’s social environments. The ability to use distinctive interactions to infer categories of relationships thus emerges early in life, without explicit teaching, allowing young humans to rapidly identify close relationships, both within and beyond families.

Contrary to our expectations, a longitudinal study shows that people's focus on money decreased during the pandemic

Has the COVID-19 pandemic made us more materialistic? The effect of COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions on the endorsement of materialism. Olaya Moldes, Denitsa Dineva, Lisbeth Ku. Psychology & Marketing, January 24 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21627

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the factors that typically facilitate the endorsement of materialistic values (e.g., higher media consumption, stress and anxiety, loneliness, death anxiety, and lower moods). In this paper, we examine how contextual changes affecting the antecedents of materialism influence its advocacy with a mixed-method approach. First, a correlational study (Study 1) suggests that increases in media consumption and stress and anxiety during the pandemic predicted current levels of materialism, however, these effects were limited. Second, contrary to our expectations, a longitudinal study (Study 2) shows that people's focus on money decreased during the pandemic. Last, a social media content analysis (Study 3) reveals a downward trend in users’ online discourses about consumption-related behaviors, but an upward trend in brands promoting spending as a way to attain well-being. The observed effects could fuel deeper societal change in the labor market and in consumer behavior, and have further implications for individual and societal well-being in a post-pandemic world. We recommend future interventions aimed at diminishing materialistic attitudes to examine the effects of decreasing media consumption and to explore how other factors introduced by the pandemic (e.g., a health or well-being focus) might moderate its advocacy.

Despite our fluency in reading human faces, sometimes we mistakenly perceive illusory faces in objects; there is a strong bias to perceive illusory faces as male rather than female

Illusory faces are more likely to be perceived as male than female. Susan G. Wardle et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, February 1, 2022 119 (5) e2117413119; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117413119

Significance: Face pareidolia is the phenomenon of perceiving illusory faces in inanimate objects. Here we show that illusory faces engage social perception beyond the detection of a face: they have a perceived age, gender, and emotional expression. Additionally, we report a striking bias in gender perception, with many more illusory faces perceived as male than female. As illusory faces do not have a biological sex, this bias is significant in revealing an asymmetry in our face evaluation system given minimal information. Our result demonstrates that the visual features that are sufficient for face detection are not generally sufficient for the perception of female. Instead, the perception of a nonhuman face as female requires additional features beyond that required for face detection.

Abstract: Despite our fluency in reading human faces, sometimes we mistakenly perceive illusory faces in objects, a phenomenon known as face pareidolia. Although illusory faces share some neural mechanisms with real faces, it is unknown to what degree pareidolia engages higher-level social perception beyond the detection of a face. In a series of large-scale behavioral experiments (ntotal = 3,815 adults), we found that illusory faces in inanimate objects are readily perceived to have a specific emotional expression, age, and gender. Most strikingly, we observed a strong bias to perceive illusory faces as male rather than female. This male bias could not be explained by preexisting semantic or visual gender associations with the objects, or by visual features in the images. Rather, this robust bias in the perception of gender for illusory faces reveals a cognitive bias arising from a broadly tuned face evaluation system in which minimally viable face percepts are more likely to be perceived as male.

Keywords: face perceptiongenderbiaspareidoliaface evaluation

Both men and women self-presented as more sensitive to sexual disgust in the presence of the female attractive experimenter

“May I present you: my disgust!” – Declared disgust sensitivity in the presence of attractive models. Michal Mikolaj Stefanczyk et al. British Psychological Society, January 24 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12556

Abstract: Disgust sensitivity differs among men and women, and this phenomenon has been observed across numerous cultures. It remains unknown why such sex differences occur, but one of the reasons may relate to differences in self-presentation. We tested that hypothesis in an experiment comprising 299 participants (49% women) randomly allocated into three groups. Each group completed the Three Domains Disgust Scale (TDDS) and rated how disgusting they found olfactory, visual, gustatory, and tactile disgust elicitors either when a male experimenter was present, a female experimenter was present, or no experimenter was present. We hypothesised that male participants in the female experimenter group would declare decreased levels of disgust sensitivity, and female participants in the male experimenter group would declare increased levels of disgust sensitivity. Results showed that despite sex differences in pathogen and sexual disgust, attractive experimenters did not evoke any differences in declared disgust across groups with one exception–both men and women self-presented as more sensitive to sexual disgust in the presence of the female experimenter. We discuss our findings in the light of evolutionary and social theories.