Covid-19 as an Engine of Family Reshuffling. Couples’ Role-Set and Relationship Quality during the Pandemic

Daniele Vignoli , University of Florence
Daniela Bellani, Scuola Normale Superiore
Raffaele Guetto, University of Florence

The consequences of the covid-19 pandemic are not only economic; couples and intimate relationships are also vulnerable. We use novel population-level data collected on September 2021 in Italy to examine variation and correlates of relationship quality in the later stages of the pandemic. Our findings suggest that the pandemic has created a huge amount of variation in family life. When children are involved, about 45-50% of couples experienced some changes in their relationship satisfaction. Couples tried to adapt to the new reality, experiencing both gains and losses in the quality of relation. For some couples, with less egalitarian gender ideology, the pandemic has been followed by negative adjustments, further fostering preexisting gender inequalities in their organizational sphere, with also negative consequences for relationship quality. For other couples, mostly with egalitarian gender attitudes, the pandemic has offered the opportunity for searching a new equilibrium, with a more balanced allocation of roles and responsibilities, and higher levels of relationship quality.

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