Dyadic Coping Strategies of Spouses as a Factor in Latent Dysfunctional Relationships in the Family: an Empirical Study in a Pandemic

Abstract

Objective. Identification of the nature of the relationship between the dyadic coping strategies of spouses and their subjective perception of the characteristics of changes in family relations during the period of forced self-isolation, due to the threat of the spread of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19. Background. The increase in the number of divorces in countries that have overcome the pandemic of COVID-19 coronavirus infection leads to the actualization of the problem of providing effective psychological assistance to families in conditions of forced self-isolation. The development of such measures should be based on evidence-based information about the factors that cause the strengthening or, on the contrary, the destruction of family relations in non-standard situations of family life. Study design. The study was conducted from April 15 to May 10, 2020 using an online psychological survey. At the beginning of the study, the period of self-isolation was two weeks. The study was carried out in two stages: 1) a survey of family members about their subjective perception of changes that occurred in interpersonal relations with the spouse during the period of self-isolation (online questionnaire); 2) the study of the relationship between indicators of dyadic coping strategies and the subjective perception of inter-marital relations. To measure the dyadic coping strategies of the spouses, proven valid and reliable methods were used. Participants. At the first stage of the study, 674 people were interviewed, of which 503 were women aged 24 to 43 years, and 171 were men from 27 to 47 years old. At the second stage, those respondents who noted an improvement or deterioration in relations in their family were selected from the first sample. As a result of online interviewing, two samples were generated for the second stage of the study, equalized by the number of married couples: the first sample included 34 married couples, who, according to a preliminary survey, noted a deterioration in family relations (average age of men — 36,7; women — 34,4). In the second, there were also 34 married couples who noted positive changes in relations with each other (average age of men — 38,1; women — 33,2). Measurements. The study used comparative analyzes with the calculation of the χ2 criterion, Student t-test, Spearman correlation coefficient. For data processing, SPSS 22.0 programs were used. Results. As a result of the research, it was revealed that there are reliable relationships between the subjective perception of spouses of the features of relationships in the family and their chosen strategies of coping behavior in non-standard and difficult life situations. Conclusions. Dyadic coping strategies of spouses are one of the dominant factors of the nature and features of inter-marital relations, which makes it necessary to take them into account in the construction of programs for providing psychological assistance to the family in non-standard conditions of its life.