ABSTRACT
Objective: We examined how relationship satisfaction changed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as how relationship satisfaction related to public policy support. Background: Conservation of resources (COR) theory suggests that societal-level stressors (such as a global pandemic) threaten familial and individual resources, straining couple relationships. Relationship satisfaction is in turn linked with important individual, familial, and societal outcomes, necessitating research on how COVID-19 impacted this facet of relationships. Method: Drawing from an international project on COVID-19 and family life, participants included 734 married and cohabiting American parents of children under 18 years of age. Results: Findings revealed relationship satisfaction declined moderately compared to retrospective reports of relationship satisfaction prior to the pandemic. This decline was more precipitous for White individuals, women, parents less involved in their children's lives, and those reporting higher levels of depressive symptoms. We also found that higher relationship satisfaction was associated with higher levels of support for family policy, particularly for men. At higher levels of relationship satisfaction, men and women had similarly high levels of support for family policy, while at lower levels, women's support for family policy was significantly higher. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic likely amplified facets of social inequality, which is especially concerning when considering the large socioeconomic gaps prior to the pandemic. Implications: Therapists, researchers, and policy makers should examine how relationship satisfaction may have changed during the pandemic because relationship satisfaction is linked to child and adult well-being and relationship dissolution. Further, the link between relationship satisfaction and support for family policy deserves further scrutiny.
ABSTRACT
This study examined parents' (N = 10,141, 64% women) reports of their and their childrens' depression, anxiety, and stress in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. The data come from the COVID-19 Family Life Study (Ben Brik, 2020) and cohort recruited between April and December 2020. Participants completed online surveys that included the DASS-21 and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Our findings indicate that socio-economically disadvantaged families fared worse in mental health during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with families with more social and economic resources. Mothers reported higher anxiety, depression, and stress compared with fathers. Parents of adolescents and adolescents fared worse than did families with younger children. Parental physical activity was associated with better parent and child mental health of anxiety symptoms. We discuss the need to address the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in families in Latin America via coordinated mental health and psychosocial support services that are integrated into the pandemic response currently and after the pandemic subsides.
ABSTRACT
Con base en una encuesta, en este artículo presento un análisis descriptivo de las percepciones de adolescentes indígenas de México, sobre su autonomía y los comportamientos de sus padres y madres en términos del apoyo y control que ellos y ellas ejercen. En particular, analizo si la autonomía alcanzada puede ser asociada a un proceso de separación/desconexión o de separación/conexión con los padres y madres. Este proceso está ligado a los rasgos que guardan los comportamientos de apoyo y de control por parte de los padres y madres. El resultado más importante es que el estilo de parentalidad más frecuentemente aplicado por los padres y madres es el autoritario, y este parece estar relacionado con el desarrollo de un tipo de autonomía desconectada...
