Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to radical changes in social distancing awareness and affected social relationships. Owing to large-scale lockdown, home quarantine and social distancing requirements, it was anticipated that sexual activities would be severely impacted. However, retrospective self-report studies showed that pornography use and autoerotism increased during the pandemic. Aim This study used big-data databases available on the Internet to investigate factors that modulated pornography use during the pandemic. Methods Daily relative search volume (RSV) data from Google Trends for the period from 24 February 2020 to 13 July 2020 were extracted. Pornhub traffic data were extracted from the Pornhub Insights website, for the period from 24 February 2020 to 13 July 2020. The parameter was defined as ‘percent change in traffic compared to an average day in 2019’. The number of daily new cases of COVID-19 was extracted from the database on Our World in Data. Outcome measures The normality of the data was examined using the Shapiro-Wilk test. All variables included in this study were non-normally distributed. Therefore, non-parametric tests or parametric tests with bootstrapping were adopted where appropriate. Results According to Google Trends, the RSV for ‘pornography’ increased after late March 2020, which is close to the date when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The number of daily new cases of COVID-19 was positively correlated with the traffic of Pornhub, a popular pornography website, and the RSV for ‘pornography’. Moderation analysis demonstrated a significant main effect of daily new cases of COVID-19 and the RSV for ‘social distancing’ in predicting Pornhub traffic/RSV for ‘pornography’. Furthermore, the RSV for ‘social distancing’ significantly moderated the relationship between daily new cases and Pornhub traffic/RSV for ‘pornography’. A stronger COVID-pornography use association was observed with increased social distancing awareness. Conclusion Increased pornography consumption during the pandemic was observed, and it was associated with the severity of the pandemic. Social distancing awareness could be a key factor influencing interest in and use of pornography. Further studies on the changes in sexual desire and birth-rate control are worthwhile because long-term public health may be affected by the changes in sexual behaviour during the pandemic.

Objectives Mindfulness skills have been shown to be an important attribute for mental and general well-being. The neurohormone oxytocin and resilience are established biological and psychological factors that are associated with mindfulness. This study aimed to elucidate the interaction of resilience and oxytocin levels as independent variables to predict mindfulness facets in university students. Method Participants (n = 96) were university students in Hong Kong who previously participated in a resilience study with no history of mental health disorders or substance abuse. Mindfulness and resilience were measured using the Chinese versions of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, respectively. Saliva samples were collected to measure oxytocin levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. A moderator analysis was conducted to assess the associations between oxytocin levels (predictor) and the five facets of mindfulness (outcomes) under the moderation effect of resilience (moderator). Results The interaction between oxytocin and resilience levels predicted the nonreactivity facet of mindfulness. Specifically, oxytocin levels significantly and positively predicted nonreactivity in participants with low or moderate resilience levels, but not in those with high resilience. Conclusion This study showed the influence of oxytocin levels on mindfulness was significant only in participants with low or moderate resilience, suggesting that oxytocin might act on other factors instead of influencing mindfulness in individuals with high levels of resilience. Pre-registration This study is not pre-registered.

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to radical changes in social distancing awareness and affected social relationship. Due to the large-scale lockdown, home quarantine and maintaining social distance, it was anticipated that sexual activities would be severely impacted. In contrast, retrospective self-report studies showed that pornography use and autoerotism increased during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE The current study used big-data databases available on internet to investigate factors that modulated the pornography use under the pandemic. METHODS Daily relative search volume (RSV) data from Google Trends spanning from 24th Feb, 2020 to 13th Jul, 2020 were extracted. Traffic data of Pornhub was extracted from the website Pornhub Insights, spanning from 24th Feb, 2020 to 13th Jul, 2020. The parameter is defined as ‘percent change in traffic compared to an average day in 2019’. Number of daily new case of COVID-19 was extracted from database on Our World in Data. RESULTS Google Trends showed that the relative search volume (RSV) for pornography increased after late March 2020, which was dated close to the announcement of the pandemic by the World Health Organization. The number of daily new cases of COVID-19 was positively correlated with the traffic of Pornhub, a popular pornography website, and the RSV of ‘pornography’. Moderation analysis demonstrated a significant main effect of daily new case of COVID-19 and the RSV of ‘social distancing’ in predicting Pornhub traffic / RSV of ‘pornography’. Furthermore, the RSV of ‘social distancing’ significantly moderated the relationship between daily new cases and Pornhub traffic / RSV of ‘pornography’. A stronger COVID-pornography use association was observed in heightened social distancing awareness. CONCLUSIONS To conclude, increased pornography consumption during the pandemic was identified, which was associated with the severity of the pandemic. Social distancing awareness may be a key factor influencing interest and use of pornography. Further studies on the changes in sexual desire, and birth-rate control are worthwhile since the long-term public health may be affected by the changes in sexual behaviour during the pandemic.