Does covid-19 "infect" love? How italian emerging adults lived their romantic relationships during the time of lockdown

Journal title RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA
Author/s Gaia Cuccì, Maria Giulia Olivari, Emanuela Confalonieri
Publishing Year 2021 Issue 2021/3
Language English Pages 18 P. 1-18 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rip2021oa12222
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

View article Download Open Access article

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

In Italy the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown have deeply changed the way Italian people used to live. Many emerging adults had to self-distance from their romantic partners and modify the way of communicating and relating to each other. Thus managing a romantic relationship could be very challenging.The study quantitatively and qualitatively investigates the association between Lockdown related negative emotions, perception of the romantic relationship quality, changes in the relationship’s characteristics and conflict within the couple. The sample consists of 171 emerging adults involved in a romantic relationship, who spent the time of lockdown apart from the romantic partner.Results showed that the perception of the relationship quality was not greatly associated with Lockdown related negative emotions, but was associated with changes and higher conflict within the relationship. Qualitative data support and enrich these results. Changes and conflicts within the relationship were due to: difficulties to communicate, lack of intimacy, awareness about relationship importance or presence of emotionaldetachment between partners.

Keywords: ; Covid-19 pandemic; romantic relationships; emerging adults; lockdown

  1. Balzarini, R. N., Muise, A., Zoppolat, G., Di Bartolomeo, A., Rodrigues, D. L., Alonso-Ferres, M., Slatcher, R. B. (preprint). Love in the Time of Covid: Perceived Partner Responsiveness Buffers People from Lower Relationship Quality Associated with Covid-Related Stressors. Retrieved from: https://psyarxiv.com/e3fh4/.
  2. Bodenmann, G. (1997). The influence of stress and coping on close relationships: A two-year longitudinal study. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 56, 156-164.
  3. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. DOI: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
  4. Brown, B. B. (1999). You’re going out with whom? Peer group influences on adolescent romantic relationships. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence, 291-329. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  5. Casagrande, M., Favieri, F., Tambelli, R., Forte, G. (2020). The enemy who sealed the world: Effects quarantine due to the COVID-19 on sleep quality, anxiety, and psychological distress in the Italian population, Sleep Medicine, 75, 12-20. DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2020.05.011.
  6. Cocci, A., Giunti, D., Tonioni, C., Cacciamani, G., Tellini, R., Polloni, G., ... & Cimino, S. (2020). Love at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic: preliminary results of an online survey conducted during the quarantine in Italy, International journal of impotence research, 32(5), 556-557. DOI: 10.1038/s41443-020-0305-x.
  7. Collins, N. L., & Feeney, B. C. (2000). A safe haven: An attachment theory perspective on support seeking and caregiving in intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(6), 1053-1073. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.78.6.1053.
  8. Conger, R. D., Rueter, M. A., & Elder, G. H. Jr. (1999). Couple resilience to economic pressure, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(1), 54-71. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.76.1.54.
  9. Domingue, R., & Mollen, D. (2009). Attachment and conflict communication in adult romantic relationships, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26(5), 678-696. DOI: 10.1177/0265407509347932.
  10. Fiorillo, A., & Gorwood, P. (2020). The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and implications for clinical practice, European Psychiatry, 63(1). DOI: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2020.35.
  11. Forte, G., Favieri, F., Tambelli, R., & Casagrande, M. (2020). The Enemy Which Sealed the World: Effects of COVID-19 Diffusion on the Psychological State of the Italian Population, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(6), 1802. DOI: 10.3390/jcm9061802.
  12. Furman, W., Buhrmester, D. (1985). Children’s perceptions of the personal relationships in their social networks, Developmental Psychology, 21 (6), 1016-1024. DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.21.6.1016.
  13. Furman, W., & Wehner, E.A. (1994). Romantic views: Toward a theory of adolescent romantic relationships. In R. Montemayor, G.R. Adams, & G.P. Gullota (Ed.) Advances in adolescent development: Volume 6, Relationships during adolescence, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  14. Germani, A., Buratta, L., Delvecchio, E., & Mazzeschi, C. (2020). Emerging Adults and COVID-19: The Role of Individualism-Collectivism on Perceived Risks and Psychological Maladjustment, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10), 3497. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17103497.
  15. Greenfield, E. A., & Russell, D. (2011). Identifying living arrangements that heighten risk for loneliness in later life: Evidence from the U.S. national social life, health, and aging project, Journal of Applied Gerontology, 30(4), 524-534. DOI: 10.1177/0733464810364985.
  16. Guarnieri, S., & Tani, F. (2011). Uno strumento per lo studio delle reti sociali: adattamento italiano del Network of Relationships Inventory, Giornale di Psicologia dello Sviluppo, 98, 7-22.
  17. Karney, B. R., Story, L. B., & Bradbury, T. N. (2005). Marriages in context: Interactions between chronic an acute stress among newlyweds. In T. A. Revenson, K. Kayser, and G. Bodenmann (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping, American Psychological Association: Washington, D.C.
  18. Kelmer, G., Rhoades, G. K., Stanley, S., & Markman, H. J. (2013). Relationship quality, commitment, and stability in long- distance relationships, Family process, 52(2), 257-270. DOI: 10.1111/j.1545-5300.2012.01418.x.
  19. Mazza, C., Ricci, E., Biondi, S., Colasanti, M., Ferracuti, S., Napoli, C., & Roma, P. (2020). A nationwide survey of psychological distress among Italian people during the COVID-19 pandemic: Immediate psychological responses and associated factors, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(9), 3165. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17093165.
  20. Moccia, L., Janiri, D., Pepe, M., Dattoli, L., Molinaro, M., De Martin, V., ... & Di Nicola, M. (2020). Affective temperament, attachment style, and the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak: an early report on the Italian general population, Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, 75-79. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.048.
  21. Mosher, W. D., Chandra, A., & Jones, J. (2005). Sexual behavior and selected health measures: men and women 15-44 years of age, United States, 2002, (No. 362), US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
  22. Neff, L. A., & Karney, B. R. (2004). How does context affect intimate relationships? Linking external stress and cognitive processes within marriage, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(2), 134-148. DOI: 10.1177/0146167203255984.
  23. Neff, L. A., & Karney, B. R. (2017). Acknowledging the elephant in the room: How stressful environmental contexts shape relationship dynamics, Current opinion in psychology, 13, 107-110. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.05.013.
  24. Okabe-Miyamoto, K., Folk, D., Lyubomirsky, S., & Dunn, E. W. (2021). Changes in Social Connection During COVID-19 Social Distancing: It’s Not (Household) Size That Matters, It’s Who You’re With. Plos one, 16(1), e0245009. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245009.
  25. Pagnini, F., Bonanomi, A., Tagliabue, S., Balconi, M., Bertolotti, M., Confalonieri, E., …& Villani, D. (2020). Knowledge, Concerns, and Behaviors of Individuals During the First Week of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Italy. JAMA Network Open, 3(7) e2015821-e2015821. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.15821.
  26. Pietromonaco, P. R., & Collins, N. L. (2017). Interpersonal mechanisms linking close relationships to health, American Psychologist, 72(6), 531-542. DOI: 10.1037/amp0000129.
  27. Reis, H. T., & Shaver,P. (1988) Intimacy as an interpersonal process. In: Duck S.W. (eds). Handbook of personal relationships, Chichester, England: Wiley, pp. 367-389.
  28. Selcuk, E., Zayas, V., & Hazan, C. (2010). Beyond satisfaction: The role of attachment in marital functioning, Journal of Family Theory & Review, 2(4), 258-279. DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-2589.2010.00061.x.
  29. Smorti, M., Ponti, L., & Cincidda, C. (2020). Life satisfaction linked to different independence-from-parents conditions in Italian emerging adults, Journal of Youth Studies, 23(4), 530-544. DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2019.1634250.
  30. Terraciano, A., McCrae, R. R., & Costa Jr, P. T. (2003). Factorial and construct validity of the Italian Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), European journal of psychological assessment, 19(2), 131-141. DOI: 10.1027//1015-5759.19.2.131.
  31. Tesser, A., & Beach, S. R. (1998). Life events, relationship quality, and depression: An investigation of judgment discontinuity in vivo, Journal of personality and social psychology, 74(1), 36-52. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.36.
  32. Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales, Journal of personality and social psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.
  33. Welsh, D.P., Haugen, P.T., Widman, L., Darling, N., & Grello, C.M. (2005). Kissing is good: A developmental investigation of sexuality in adolescent romantic couples, Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 2(4), 32-41. DOI: 10.1525/srsp.2005.2.4.32.
  34. Williamson, H. C., Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. (2013). Financial strain and stressful events predict newlywedsʼ negative communication independent of relationship satisfaction, Journal of Family Psychology, 27 (1), 65-75. DOI: 10.1037/a0031104.

Gaia Cuccì, Maria Giulia Olivari, Emanuela Confalonieri, Does covid-19 "infect" love? How italian emerging adults lived their romantic relationships during the time of lockdown in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA" 3/2021, pp 1-18, DOI: 10.3280/rip2021oa12222