Impacts of social distancing on marital life during Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of social distancing on different areas of marital life during the Covid-19 pandemic. 1121 Brazilians, who were living with romantic partners, answered an online survey about their social distancing practices during the pandemic and aspects of their relationship. Most participants did not report impairment in marital behavior and 68% did not report experiencing willingness to divorce during pandemic. However, binary logistic regressions showed that the Odds Ratio of reporting willingness to divorce was lower for individuals with longer cohabitation (OR = 0.998), while higher when there was a decrease in positive marital behaviors (OR = 1.8 - 3.13), and also reported an increase in the conflicts, arguments and fights (OR = 6.12 - 6.43). Indicators of higher confinement at home during the pandemic were associated with higher chances of reporting willingness to divorce.

Coabitação durante a pandemia de covid-19: a experiência de casais jovens adultos

“…Tais medidas restritivas também reverberaram em dificuldades para os relacionamentos conjugais, principalmente no âmbito da sexualidade e dos conflitos, à medida que trouxe novos temas de conflito, como aqueles relacionados ao modo de enfrentar a pandemia, e intensificou problemas já existentes no relacionamento (Luetke et al, 2020;Salazar & Morales, 2020;Torres-Cruz et al, 2022). Tais dificuldades que surgiram ou se intensificaram neste contexto merecem atenção, pois o aumento de conflitos conjugais e dificuldades na vida sexual, por exemplo, aumentam as chances de pensar em separação (Rocha et al, 2023).…”

“…Aqueles que reportaram aumento de conflitos conjugais tiveram seis vezes mais chances de pensar em separação. Da mesma forma, indivíduos que experimentaram redução do afeto conjugal e da frequência de relações sexuais também pensaram mais em se separar durante a pandemia (Rocha, Manara, Wagner, & Trentini, 2023).…”