Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have triggered simultaneous changes across multiple life domains within a very short timeframe. This major shock has seriously challenged the ability of families to adapt to unanticipated changes over which they had little control. Switzerland instigated a low-intensity lockdown in response to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. The resulting alterations to family life included changes to employment situations and working conditions (such as layoffs, temporary unemployment and home-based work) and the need to arrange home-schooling and childcare. This study examines how a sample of individuals with a trajectory of lone parenthood living in French-speaking Switzerland adapted their everyday lives to accommodate the shifting demands in the domains of employment and family responsibilities. Interviews were conducted between April and June 2020 for the longitudinal project “The multiple paths of lone parenthood”. Using this data, we analysed the COVID-related changes to work and family life, focusing on their time structuring. We found that parents who remained employed faced the greatest time pressures, although their experiences varied significantly depending on the adaptability of their work schedules, as well as the child(ren)’s age(s) and degree of autonomy. Home-based work and home-schooling resulted in more flexible schedules, although parents with the greatest work and family demands sought more time-structured organisation to facilitate their articulation. Social support was a crucial buffer for parents with conflicting demands across domains.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic arrived unexpectedly and spread rapidly across the globe, affecting countries and populations to different degrees
Our analysis focused on instrumental support, in particular, help with housework, childcare and home-schooling, as this kind of support is most directly related to the organisation of everyday life
Parents who remained employed for longer hours faced the most time pressure, there was significant heterogeneity depending on whether they worked on-site or from home, the degree of flexibility offered by the employer, the type of job, the child(ren)’s age and related degree of autonomy, and access to social support
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic arrived unexpectedly and spread rapidly across the globe, affecting countries and populations to different degrees. The consequences were a major shock to individual lives and social organisation. The pace at which these unravelled and their simultaneous impact on multiple domains of life (such as health, employment, family, social relationships) was unprecedented. Research on the individual and collective capacity for resilience in this context is crucial. Under this frame, our article analyses how families have adapted to the sudden, multidimensional changes in their daily lives caused by the pandemic, focusing on a sample of individuals with a trajectory of lone parenthood living in French-speaking
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