School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3220, Australia.
Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, Deakin University, VIC, Geelong, 3220, Australia.
Prev Sci. 2024 Feb;25(2):213-229. doi: 10.1007/s11121-023-01498-1. Epub 2023 Mar 28.
Strict lockdowns have been employed by many of the world's nations as a public health response to COVID-19. However, concerns have been expressed as to how such public health responses disturb the human ecosystem. In this paper, we report on findings from a longitudinal study of Australian parents in which we investigated how state differences in government-mandated lockdowns affect the relationship well-being (i.e., relationship satisfaction and loneliness) of parents. We situated the study of the relational effects of strict lockdowns within the Vulnerability Stress Adaptation Model (VSAM, Karney & Bradbury, 1995) that considers the role of parents' pre-existing vulnerabilities (i.e., psychological distress and attachment insecurity), life stressors (pre-pandemic and COVID-19 stressors), and adaptive relationship processes (constructive communication and perceived partner support). A total of 1942 parents completed 14 waves of assessments of relationship satisfaction and loneliness over a 13.5-month period as well as baseline assessments of personal vulnerabilities, life stressors, and adaptive relationship processes. Parents with high relationship adaptations and low vulnerabilities evidenced the highest relationship well-being (i.e., high satisfaction and low loneliness) during changes in lockdown restrictions, while parents with moderate relationship adaptations and vulnerabilities experienced the poorest well-being. Differences in state lockdown restrictions (i.e., Victoria [long and strict lockdown policy] vs all other states) were associated with differences in relationship well-being for parents with high relationship adaptations. Specifically, Victorian parents experienced significant declines in relationship well-being compared to non-Victorian parents. Our findings provide novel insights into how government-mandated social restrictions can disrupt the relational ecology of parents.
许多国家都采取了严格的封锁措施，作为对 COVID-19 的公共卫生应对措施。然而，人们对这些公共卫生措施如何扰乱人类生态系统表示担忧。在本文中，我们报告了一项针对澳大利亚父母的纵向研究结果，该研究调查了政府强制封锁的州差异如何影响父母的关系幸福感（即关系满意度和孤独感）。我们将严格封锁对关系的影响研究置于脆弱性-应激-适应模型（VSAM，Karney & Bradbury，1995）中，该模型考虑了父母先前存在的脆弱性（即心理困扰和依恋不安全感）、生活应激源（大流行前和 COVID-19 应激源）和适应性关系过程（建设性沟通和感知伴侣支持）的作用。共有 1942 名父母在 13.5 个月的时间内完成了 14 次关系满意度和孤独感的评估，以及个人脆弱性、生活应激源和适应性关系过程的基线评估。具有高关系适应性和低脆弱性的父母在封锁限制变化期间表现出最高的关系幸福感（即高满意度和低孤独感），而具有中等关系适应性和脆弱性的父母则表现出最差的幸福感。州封锁限制（即维多利亚州[长期严格封锁政策]与所有其他州）的差异与高关系适应性父母的关系幸福感差异有关。具体来说，与非维多利亚州的父母相比，维多利亚州的父母的关系幸福感显著下降。我们的研究结果提供了关于政府强制社会限制如何扰乱父母关系生态系统的新见解。
