Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to people’s romantic relationships, with people generally reporting decreases in their sexual and relationship quality (Rodrigues & Balzarini, 2023). However, very little is known about how people in polyamorous relationships fared throughout the pandemic or how they compared to monogamous relationships. Method: The present study examines people’s evaluations of their partner(s) in monogamous and polyamorous relationships during COVID-19. We analyzed ratings of sexual and relationship quality, commitment, passion, and sexual desire at the onset of COVID-19 and every two weeks for three months thereafter. Results: Results found that monogamous participants reported similar levels of relationship satisfaction when compared to polyamorous primary relationships. However, polyamorous secondary relationships reported significantly lower relationship and sexual satisfaction than polyamorous primary and monogamous relationships. Additionally, polyamorous primary relationships reported lower sexual satisfaction than monogamous relationships Conclusions: The restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 introduced a unique pressure toward “corona-monogamy,” prioritizing a single primary relationship for people engaging in polyamory. Previous research has shown that secondary relationships tend to embody more sexually desirous and satisfying relationships, and thus these results counter past research. It may be that because polyamorous people had less access to their secondary partners to have their sexual needs met or actualized, they had to rely on their primary partner to meet those needs leading to less sexual satisfaction.

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