A Mixed-method Study of Individual, Couple, and Parental Functioning During the State-regulated COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain

During the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Spain, we explored the individual and relational well-being of people confined together with their partners and/or children during the first 3 weeks of state-regulated lockdown. Adults 18 years or older (N = 407) completed an online survey that included demographic, household, and employment information along with standardized measures of psychological distress (State-Trait Anxiety and Beck Depression) and relationship functioning—either the Dyadic Adjustment Scale if there were no children in the household or a Basic Family Relations Evaluation Questionnaire (CERFB) measuring conjugal, parental, and coparental functions. Qualitative analyses of responses to an open-ended question about perceived changes in couple or family dynamics during lockdown revealed nine specific themes comprising two overarching categories: relational improvement and deterioration. The overall prevalence of improvement themes (61.7%) exceeded deterioration themes (41.0%), with increased (re)connection and conflict atmosphere cited most often. Quantitative analyses found elevated levels of state anxiety but not trait anxiety or depression during lockdown. Consistent with the qualitative results, couples having no children at home reported high levels of dyadic adjustment, but with children present CERFB parental functioning exceeded conjugal functioning, a pattern sometimes associated with child triangulation into adult conflicts. Although correlates of psychological distress (e.g., unemployment, perceived economic risk) were relatively stable across subgroups, predictors of relationship functioning varied substantially with household/parental status (e.g., telecommuting and employment facilitated conjugal functioning only for couples with children).