The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has caused great societal upheaval and an unprecedented change to the way we live, work and socialise. In response, Relationships Australia is conducting a series of short surveys to explore how people’s working lives, social lives and relationships have been affected by COVID19. May’s survey is the second in this series. It investigates how people’s close relationships were affected by the COVID-19 restrictions.
Key findings: 55 percent of people were challenged by their living arrangements during COVID-19 restrictions. Those who were challenged by their living arrangements were more likely to report changes to other close relationships, even with those people they did not live with. 20 percent of respondents who were challenged by their living arrangement still managed to create positive changes to their close relationships. Across all households, the majority of people (52%+) spent more time and effort maintaining relationships during COVID-19 restrictions. 42 percent of people experienced a negative change in their relationship with their partner. With parents, children, friends, extended family, neighbours and colleagues 90%+ reported no significant changes or positive changes in their relationships. Those who reported feeling very lonely were more likely to experience negative relationship changes throughout COVID-19. This was especially true for people’s typically ‘close’ relationships (such as those with one’s partner, children and friends), whereas people’s relationships with their neighbours, extended family and colleagues were less likely to be affected.
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