Too Close for Comfort? Impact of Residential Crowding on Family Relationships During Covid-19

Poh Lin Tan , National University of Singapore
Jeremy W Lim-Soh , National University of Singapore

COVID-19 has brought about multiple stressors to the family, including fear of infection, physical confinement, disturbed routines and caregiving burdens. However, not much is known about the role of dense residential crowding on stress and relationships. Intuitively, living in close quarters may increase tensions due to overcrowding, but may also be conducive for intimacy growth. Using survey data on married women collected before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Singapore, this paper tests the hypothesis that housing crowdedness has an overall negative impact on spousal and parent-child relationships. Multinomial logistic regressions on housing density suggest that women in more cramped surroundings were more likely to report worsened relationships with other adults, whereas those living in the most spacious homes were more likely to report better relationships with their children. Hence, the overall evidence supports our hypothesis that housing crowdedness has an overall negative impact on spousal and parent-child relationships.

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 Presented in Session 28. Flash Session: Covid and the Family