Love in the Time of COVID: Perceived Partner Responsiveness Buffers People from Lower Relationship Quality Associated with COVID-Related Stressors

Abstract

Maintaining a satisfying romantic relationship is vital to overall health and well-being, yet relationship quality might be hampered by stressors brought on by the recent Covid-19 pandemic. In the Love in the Time of Covid study, we examine whether Covid-related stressors (i.e., social isolation, financial strain, and stress) are associated with lower relationship quality and greater conflict in relationships, and test whether perceived partner responsiveness—the extent to which people believe their partner understands, validates, and cares for them—buffers these effects. In the current study (N = 3,593 participants from 57 countries), when people reported more Covid-related stressors, they also reported poorer relationship quality and more conflict with their partner. However, these associations were mitigated when people perceived their partner as more responsive to their needs.

Solitary and Joint Online Pornography Use During the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Portugal: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Correlates

“…These findings support our hypothesis and are aligned with past research. Indeed, people in social confinement tend to experience more negative outcomes in their lives (Balzarini et al, 2020;Cellini et al, 2020;Cocci et al, 2020;Lehmiller et al, 2020;Li et al, 2020;Qiu et al, 2020). Against our hypothesis, we also found that most participants indicated increased willingness to have sex since the COVID-19 outbreak.…”

“…This was consistent for both groups, suggesting that using pornography together may have help people to become closer to their partners. If so, this behavior might be a way for single and partnered people to increase social connectedness with others, which has been argued an important predictor of quality of life and well-being (Holt-Lunstad et al, 2010), namely during the pandemic (Balzarini et al, 2020;Okabe-Miyamoto et al, 2020;Vowels, 2020). In contrast, participants with more solitary online pornography use also experienced less sex quality and less satisfaction and intimacy with their partners, which in turn was associated with worse perceived physical health and sleep quality.…”

“…Research also showed that feeling connected and socially supported by others helped people deal with the strains caused by the pandemic (Balzarini et al, 2020). This was arguably extended to sexual behavior, such that people who experienced more sexual desire since the outbreak were also more likely to make new additions to their sex life (Lehmiller et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, American people perceiving greater support from their friends and family reported less depression severity, health anxiety and loneliness (Tull et al, 2020). For partnered people, living with a romantic partner and perceiving greater responsiveness from them also helped dealing with the negative consequences of social isolation (Balzarini et al, 2020;Okabe-Miyamoto et al, 2020;Vowels, 2020).…”

“…Therefore, researchers have been examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for social issues, well-being and social relationships (Bavel et al, 2020;Torales et al, 2020). For example, isolation increased psychological problems such as panic disorder, anxiety and depression in Chinese people (Qiu et al, 2020), and was associated with more distress and financial strain in an international sample of participants (Balzarini et al, 2020). Isolation was also associated with increased use of digital media near bedtime for Italian people, which was associated with worse sleep quality (Cellini et al, 2020).…”