Spatial and Social Behavior of Single and Coupled Individuals of Both Sexes during COVID-19 Lockdown Regime in Russia

Abstract

Testing individual motivations for social activity in violation of the mandated lockdown regime is a challenging research topic for evolutionary psychology. To this purpose, we analyzed twenty popular weekly routes and the potential impact of sex and relationship status (single versus coupled) on the reported level of spatial-social activity during the quarantine in Russia between March and June 2020 (N = 492). Our study revealed a significant difference between men’s and women’s mobility: men, in general, tend to exhibit substantially higher spatial activity. The results have shown that individuals living on their own have more social interactions with friends and exhibit more profound spatial mobility via public transport. On the other hand, spatial activity of coupled individuals of both sexes were mostly devoted to solving a list of economic and matrimonial tasks. At the same time, men already cohabiting with a partner leave their homes for dating purposes more frequently than single men and women. We interpret these findings in the sense that both individual and sex-specific differences in observed sociality could be a result of a fine-tuned adaptive populational response to a contemporary virus threat, predominantly rooted in the evolution of behavioral strategies in the reproductive and economic spheres of each sex. Indeed, unlike women, coupled men have been preserving highly risky and intense social behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It Began in Ponds and Rivers: Charting the Beginnings of the Ecology of Fish Cognition

“…Our subsequent consideration of the rationale and empirical data for the evolutionary explanations for differences between the sexes in spatial ability was, and still is, rather well-received by a greater diversity of fields than just evolutionary biology or animal cognition (96). Nearly 20 years later this review is being cited in such diverse work as bumblebee cognition (97), effects of binge drinking (98), stereotyped threat (99), gender differences in seminomadic pastoralist children (100), and behavior during COVID-19 lockdown in Russia (101). Although it has not led to policy changes as did her work on fish welfare (again see other papers in this Special Issue), the impact of this paper has been sustained and broad.…”

Open Business Model of COVID-19 Transformation of an Urban Public Transport System: The Experience of a Large Russian City

“…The second group of works [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] presents results of research of the connection between dynamics of COVID-19 spread, population density, and social-cultural peculiarities of lifestyles. The third group consists of works of general purpose, mainly about the political-economic sphere [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. The fourth group is devoted to COVID-19 s impact on individual aspects of transport system functioning, and demonstration of transport activity .…”

“…This group of work also includes articles on the mass changes of everyday behaviors that took place during lockdown restrictions [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46], and the risk of a mass spread of infection [47][48][49][50][51].…”

“…The second group of works [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] presents results of research of the connection between dynamics of COVID-19 spread, population density, and social–cultural peculiarities of lifestyles. The third group consists of works of general purpose, mainly about the political–economic sphere [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. The fourth group is devoted to COVID-19′s impact on individual aspects of transport system functioning, and demonstration of transport activity [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ].…”

“…The authors of [ 51 ] presented data on the spatial and social behaviors of men and women, single people, and families during COVID lockdowns. Knowledge of these regularities can be used in organizing city mobility restrictions in the future.…”