Relationship satisfaction during COVID‐19: The role of partners' perceived support and attachment

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Yael Bar‐Shachar,Sagi Lopata,Eran Bar‐Kalifa
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12767

RESEARCH

Relationship satisfaction during COVID-19: The role

of partners’perceived support and attachment

YaelBar-Shachar| SagiLopata | EranBar-Kalifa

The Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion

University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

Correspondence Eran Bar-Kalifa, The

Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion

University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 8410501,

Israel.

Email: eranbk@bgu.ac.il

Funding information

Israel Science Foundation, Grant/Award

Number: 690/19

Abstract

Objective: The main goal of this study was to examine the

interplay between individuals’attachment insecurity and

their perceptions of their partners’COVID-related behav-

iors (supportive and negative behaviors) in predicting their

relationship satisfaction.

Background: Stress is a well-documented risk factor for

relationship satisfaction. COVID-19 related stressors thus

pose a challenge to maintaining relationship satisfaction.

Although partners’supportive behaviors can play a central

role in mitigating these stressors, enduring individual vul-

nerabilities, such as attachment insecurity, are likely to

moderate the effectiveness of supportive (or negative)

behaviors.

Method: In this two-wave study, conducted at the start of

the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, 239 participants in

cohabiting Israeli couples reported their current relation-

ship satisfaction and perceived partners’supportive and

negative behaviors in response to COVID-related stress.

Participants’pre-COVID reports of relationship satisfac-

tion and attachment orientations were used to assess the

extent to which partners’supportive/negative behaviors

interacted with attachment orientations to predict relation-

ship satisfaction maintenance during the first lockdown in

Israel.

Results: Higher levels of support and lower levels of nega-

tive behaviors were associated with greater relationship

satisfaction maintenance. Anxiously attached individuals

showed greater sensitivity to their partners’support,

whereas avoidantly attached individuals manifested lower

reactivity to their partners’negative behaviors.

Conclusions: Perceived partners’supportive and negative

behaviors can predict relationship satisfaction during

stressful times. However, high attachment anxiety and low

Author note: The first two authors equally contributed to this paper. The data have not been presented at any conference thus far.

Received: 16 July 2021Revised: 24 June 2022Accepted: 10 July 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12767

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:105–121. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 105

attachment avoidance may render individuals more sensi-

tive to such behaviors.

Implications: The results suggest that during times of

stress, it is essential to target partners with attachment

insecurity to strengthen their supportive skills.

KEYWORDS

attachment, COVID-19, perceived support, romantic relationships

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes one of the most serious global health crises the world has

witnessed in a century (World Health Organization, 2020). There is now ample evidence that

the stress caused by the pandemic is exerting pernicious effects on many people’s well-being

(e.g., Brooks et al., 2020; Torales et al., 2020). Pandemic-related stressors have been shown to

lead to psychological distress (e.g., Brown et al., 2020; Luetke et al., 2020; Pietromonaco &

Overall, 2020; Prime et al., 2020). Such negative effects of the pandemic on people’s well-being

have been documented in Israel as well. For example, two studies conducted on the Israeli pop-

ulation reported elevated levels of perceived stress and COVID-related economic and health

anxiety (Bareket-Bojmel et al., 2021; Horesh et al., 2020).

Notably, the pandemic’s adverse effects have also been found to spill over to affect people’s

close relationships (Brown et al., 2020; Pietromonaco & Overall, 2020; Prime et al., 2020). The

measures put in place to combat the pandemic have resulted in massive disruptions to couples’

daily routines. For example, stay-at-home policies require couples to cope with drastic changes

dyadically, such as working from home and sharing responsibility for (home) childcare

(Carlson et al., 2020). These challenging circumstances are likely to deplete partners’resources,

which may impede them from satisfactorily addressing each other’s relational needs. Thus, the

external stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic may impact partners’ability to maintain

a high level of relationship satisfaction (Pietromonaco & Overall, 2020).

The current study implemented the vulnerability-stress-adaptation model (Karney &

Bradbury, 1995) to explore the interplay between partners’relational behaviors at the start of

the pandemic in Israel and their pre-pandemic dispositional vulnerabilities. Specifically, it

focused on partners’attachment insecurity, a key vulnerability factor, in shaping partners’rela-

tionship satisfaction during the pandemic (Pietromonaco & Overall, 2020).

A satisfying romantic relationship is strongly linked to individuals’physical health (Robles

et al., 2014) and mental well-being (Braithwaite & Holt-Lunstad, 2017; Proulx et al., 2007;

Whisman & Baucom, 2012). There is consistent evidence that lower levels of relationship satis-

faction and higher levels of relational distress are causal risk factors for depression(for a recent

review, see Whisman et al., 2021). Relatedly, partners in highly satisfying relationships tend to

live longer and have fewer health problems than unsatisfied partners or single individuals

(Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001; Robles et al., 2014). The impact of people’s relationships on

their long-term health is comparable to (or greater than) that of well-known health-risk factors

such as obesity (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010). This points to the need to better identify the rela-

tional and personal factors shaping partners’relationship satisfaction during times of stress.

Relational behaviors (whether supportive or nonsupportive) play a central role in mitigating

(or exacerbating) the external effects of stressors on couples’personal and relational well-being

(Bodenmann, 2005; Conger et al., 1999; Karney & Bradbury, 1995). In one study, where cou-

ples were asked to disclose their stressful experiences, higher attentive support from the listening

partner was associated with higher self-reported satisfaction by both partners (Kuhn

et al., 2018). In the context of COVID-19, a recent daily diary study on a sample of Israeli cou-

ples found that although the disclosure of one’s COVID-related stress had no effect on daily

levels of relationship satisfaction, perceived partner’s constructive and destructive responses to

106 FAMILY RELATIONS