Does covid-19 "infect" love? How italian emerging adults lived their romantic relationships during the time of lockdown

Abstract

In Italy the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown have deeply changed the way Italian people used to live. Many emerging adults had to self-distance from their romantic partners and modify the way of communicating and relating to each other. Thus managing a romantic relationship could be very challenging.The study quantitatively and qualitatively investigates the association between Lockdown related negative emotions, perception of the romantic relationship quality, changes in the relationship's characteristics and conflict within the couple. The sample consists of 171 emerging adults involved in a romantic relationship, who spent the time of lockdown apart from the romantic partner.Results showed that the perception of the relationship quality was not greatly associated with Lockdown related negative emotions, but was associated with changes and higher conflict within the relationship. Qualitative data support and enrich these results. Changes and conflicts within the relationship were due to: difficulties to communicate, lack of intimacy, awareness about relationship importance or presence of emotionaldetachment between partners.