How Do We Live Together During a Lockdown in Belgium? Study of Couple and Parental Satisfaction

In March 2020, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. To reduce the risk of infection, Belgian government ordered restrictive isolation measures. If lockdown and social isolation have proven to be quite effective in terms of physical health, little is known about the impact of the lockdown on couple and parental satisfaction. The current study concerned the first wave of a 5-wave longitudinal research programme relative to the trajectory of couple and parental satisfaction around the lockdown (N = 779 individuals) on 3 cohorts based on the government announcements (i.e. beginning of the lockdown and subsequent extended lockdowns). The objective was to compare the level of couple and parental satisfaction during the strict first lockdown in Belgium with normative values, considering any gender, parenting, and cohabitation differences. Participants were invited to complete four scales of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory Revised, i.e. Global Distress, Difficulties in Problem-solving Communication, Aggression, and Conflicts over Children Rearing. Two main findings emerged from the study. First, our results showed more couple satisfaction during the lockdown, in comparison to normative situations. During the lockdown, partners expressed more general couple satisfaction. They also felt more effective in resolving couple conflicts and in problem-solving communication and they experienced less couple physical and verbal aggression. Second, higher levels of conflicts over children rearing between partners during the lockdown were observed, in comparison to normative situations. However, major gender differences were observed: While mothers assessed more parental conflicts during the lockdown in comparison to normative situations, fathers reported less conflicts. Finally, our results showed gender differences in parental satisfaction between the three cohorts: Mothers expressed more parental conflicts over children rearing after the first extension of the lockdown in comparison to the beginning of the lockdown while no differences were observed in fathers. The discussion highlighted the positive aspects of lockdown for couples and the gender differences relative to the satisfaction over children rearing.