The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures changed many aspects of everyday life. Many anecdotal accounts of changes in people’s self-perceptions as they spent more time alone have been reported. To further explore these accounts, the current study investigated potential shifts between pre- and post-pandemic self-perceptions of gender, sexual, and romantic identities among university students and adults in Canada (N = 342; M age = 22.8, SD = 6.7) during the Summer/Fall 2022. Participants were recruited for a study on changes in self-perceptions, body image, eating pathology, and sexual and gender identities, during the pandemic. Approximately half of participants indicated some change in their identity during the post-pandemic period. Specifically, participants reported changes in their identities related to sexual orientation and romantic attraction orientation, as well as sexual and romantic attraction rated continuously, gender identity, and gender expression. Changes in gender expression and changes in continuously-rated sexual and romantic attraction were more common than changes in identity labels (i.e., sexual and romantic orientation labels and gender identity). Participants also were asked to describe contributors to these changes in an open-text format. Response themes included time to reflect, reduced social interaction, and increased exploration through social media. These findings increase knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on self-perceptions and how opportunities for introspection may allow individuals the space to re-conceptualize their gender, sexuality, and romantic identities.

COVID-19 大流行和相关的封锁措施改变了日常生活的许多方面。据报道，随着人们独处时间的增加，自我认知发生了变化。为了进一步探索这些叙述，目前的研究调查了加拿大大学生和成年人在大流行前后对性别、性和浪漫身份的自我认知之间的潜在转变 （N = 342;M 年龄 = 22.8，SD = 6.7）。 招募参与者进行一项关于大流行期间自我认知、身体形象、饮食病理以及性和性别认同变化的研究。大约一半的参与者表示，在大流行后时期，他们的身份发生了一些变化。具体来说，参与者报告了他们与性取向和浪漫吸引力取向相关的身份变化，以及持续评级的性和浪漫吸引力、性别认同和性别表达。性别表达的变化以及连续评级的性和浪漫吸引力的变化比身份标签 （即性和浪漫取向标签和性别认同） 的变化更常见。参与者还被要求以开放文本格式描述这些变化的贡献者。回答主题包括反思时间、减少社交互动和增加通过社交媒体的探索。这些发现增加了对 COVID-19 封锁对自我认知影响的认识，以及内省的机会如何让个人有空间重新概念化他们的性别、性取向和浪漫身份。