Relationship difficulties and “technoference” during the COVID-19 pandemic
PSPE
- Zoppolat, Giulia ORCID Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Righetti, Francesca ORCID Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Balzarini, Rhonda N. Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
- Alonso-Ferres, María ORCID University of Granada, Spain
- Urganci, Betul ORCID Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
- Rodrigues, David L. ORCID Iscte–Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
- Debrot, Anik ORCID University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Wiwattanapantuwong, Juthatip Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Dharma, Christoffer University of Toronto, ON, Canada
- Chi, Peilian University of Macau, China
- Karremans, Johan C. Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Schoebi, Dominik ORCID Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
- Slatcher, Richard B. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
- 2022
Published in:
- Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. - SAGE Publications. - 2022, vol. 39, no. 11, p. 3204-3227
Relationship difficulties
Technoference
COVID-19 pandemic
Romantic relationships
Phubbing
Social media
Relationship satisfaction
English
The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people’s lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies (N = 3271) using repeated measure and longitudinal approaches, we found that people who experienced COVID-19 related challenges (i.e., lockdown, reduced face-to-face interactions, boredom, or worry) also reported greater self and partner phone use (Study 1) and time spent on social media (Study 2), and subsequently experienced more conflict and less satisfaction in their romantic relationship. The findings provide insight into the struggles people faced in their relationships during the pandemic and suggest that the increase in screen time – a rising phenomenon due to the migration of many parts of life online – may be a challenge for couples.
- Faculty
- Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
- Department
- Département de Psychologie
- Language
-
- English
- Classification
- Psychology
- License
-
CC BY
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1177/02654075221093611
- ISSN 0265-4075
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/336215
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