Abstract
Objective: This paper describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the family lives of young adults whose parents had been through a high-conflict divorce and the extent to which these 18-to-30-year-olds believed the COVID-19 measures accommodated for their family situation.
 Background: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family lives has been described in recent literature but no attention has been paid to young adults experiencing parental conflict due to a divorce transition impasse.
 Method: Data from 24 in-depth interviews were collected in the Belgian province of Limburg using a semi-structured interview guide with open questions and analysed via Nvivo.
 Results: Frequency of contact with parents decreased, contact with parents living abroad became nearly impossible. Different interpretations of and approaches to the rules led to frustration and quarrelling in families. The quality of the relationship with parents changed, often in a negative way. Respondents indicated that to their opinion due consideration had not been given to the situation of young adults with divorced parents.
 Conclusion: In order to adequately develop COVID-19 rules that are tailored to a wide range of families, with attention to the most vulnerable ones, we recommend that policy makers define a family by using a “feeling family paradigm” rather than defining a family in terms of a household and that they include a multi-actor and multi-disciplinary perspective in the decision-making processes.
Highlights
Since the spring of 2020, Belgium, just as the rest of the whole world, has been in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic
Objective: This paper describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the family lives of young adults whose parents had been through a high-conflict divorce and the extent to which these 18-to-30-year-olds believed the COVID-19 measures accommodated for their family situation
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family lives has been described in recent literature but no attention has been paid to young adults experiencing parental conflict due to a divorce transition impasse
Summary
Since the spring of 2020, Belgium, just as the rest of the whole world, has been in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 23 July 2021, almost 18 months after the COVID-19 outbreak was officially declared a pandemic, the death toll due to COVID-19 worldwide stood at 4,127,963 (World Health Organization 2021). 25,217 people have died from the coronavirus in Belgium, with deaths peaking twice around what has been called the first and second wave, respectively, which occurred in April 2020 and November 2020 (Sciensano 2021). Since March 2020, the government has been taking measures to combat the pandemic, which have shaken up everyday life for everyone in Flanders. On 17 March 2020, a so-called semi-lockdown was announced, with all schools and non-essential shops being forced to close. All non-essential travel was prohibited, as was non-essential travel abroad (Federale Overheidsdienst Binnenlandse Zaken 2020a; Federale Overheidsdienst Binnenlandse Zaken 2020b)
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