Abstract
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on various aspects of life, but questions about its effects on close relationships remain largely unanswered. In the present study, we examined perceived changes in relationship satisfaction at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by using an international sample of 3,243 individuals from 67 different countries, mostly from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In April and May 2020, participants responded to an online survey that included questions about relationship satisfaction, their satisfaction before the pandemic, other relationship aspects (e.g., shared time), special circumstances (e.g., mobility restrictions), and enduring dispositions (e.g., insecure attachment). A decline in time shared with one’s partner was most strongly associated with perceived decreases in relationship satisfaction, resulting in a different pattern of findings for cohabiting and non-cohabiting individuals. Among the most influential moderators were anxious and avoidant attachment. The findings offer insights into both aggravating and protecting factors in couples’ responses to pandemic-related stressors.
Highlights
Unlike any other event in recent history, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on couples worldwide through major changes in everyday routines, including increasing levels of remote work, changes in childcare requirements due to closed childcare facilities and schools [1], and increased financial vulnerabilities due to job cuts [2]
Participants from 67 different countries responded to the survey, with the vast majority living in Italy (n = 1,094), the United States (n = 776), the United Kingdom (n = 302), and the GSA region, namely, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany (n = 775)
Using a 2 × 2 mixed repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), we found a main effect of time, F(1, 3241) = 689.44, p < .001, η2 = 0.18, indicating that, overall, relationship satisfaction decreased at the beginning of the pandemic relative to individuals’ reminiscence of their relationship satisfaction before the pandemic
Summary
Unlike any other event in recent history, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on couples worldwide through major changes in everyday routines, including increasing levels of remote work, changes in childcare requirements due to closed childcare facilities and schools [1], and increased financial vulnerabilities due to job cuts [2]. There have been conceptual contributions and preliminary data from the United States [3, 4] Germany [5], and Romania [6] on the current COVID-19 pandemic, this study is the first to examine changes in relationship satisfaction in a large-scale, cross-national sample of cohabiting and non-cohabiting individuals. Previous COVID-19 studies have focused on specific factors, such as attachment style [7], we took a more comprehensive approach, ranging from individual dispositions to pandemic-. Relationships during the covid-19 pandemic related external stressors. Including both types of couples (cohabiting vs non-cohabiting) in a cross-national comparison is important for understanding the generalizability of findings, as well as for providing insight into potential implications of the different self-isolation measures implemented across countries
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