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. 2022 Aug;43(8):2234-2252.
doi: 10.1177/0192513X211030028.

Coupling with COVID: The Role of Dyadic Coping in Relationship Satisfaction and Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Michelle T Leonard  1 , Charles Giraud  1 , Christen Abraham  1
Affiliations

Coupling with COVID: The Role of Dyadic Coping in Relationship Satisfaction and Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Michelle T Leonard et al. J Fam Issues. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Models of dyadic coping suggest that facing a stressful situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with one's partner to meet their needs is associated with positive outcomes. This study explored dyadic coping and its association with relationship satisfaction and distress in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected online from 564 participants. Participants completed measures of dyadic coping, relationship satisfaction, COVID anxiety, and OCD, and asked to describe their experience in an open-ended question. Results showed that experiences were quite polarized. Significant gender differences and differences for couples with/without children were noted for distress and relationship satisfaction. There was a significant interaction between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction for women when predicting COVID OCD; however, post-hoc analysis showed that this interaction was only significant for women with children. The potential exponential burden that female couple members may face during COVID-19 as well as implications for intervention, are discussed.

Keywords: dyadic coping; dyadic relationship/quality/satisfaction; family health; gender and family; intimate relationships.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Interaction between Relationship Satisfaction and Dyadic Coping When Predicting COVID OCD Symptoms in Women.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Interaction between Relationship Satisfaction and Dyadic Coping When Predicting COVID OCD Symptoms in Women with Children.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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