2022 Volume 36 Issue 1 Pages 46-57
This study investigated whether women's intimate relationships with their spouse or partner have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic. This study also investigated whether the change of relationships is affected by women's gender-role attitudes, employment status, and sharing of housework. An online survey was conducted with a sample of 547 women ages 20 to 60 years who lived with their spouse or partner from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020) to the present (September 2020). In one sitting, the participants retrospectively assessed their relationship with their partners before and during the pandemic. Their gender-role attitudes, employment status, and proportion of housework were also determined. Results indicated that women with more egalitarian gender-role attitudes had significantly lower scores for conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women from single-income households had significantly lower scores for suppression during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proportion of shared housework before the COVID-19 pandemic affected scores for conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's intimate relationship with their spouse or partner during the COVID-19 pandemic was influenced by the state of that relationship before the pandemic. Routinely building a good relationship, egalitarian gender-role attitudes, and being employed were important factors for good intimate relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic.
