How sociocultural contexts may shape the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on couples' relationships

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect couples worldwide who vary in sociocultural values, norms, and expectations, but most work examining connections between pandemic-related stress and couples' relationships has been conducted in the US or similar Western cultures. Guided by the vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model (Karney & Bradbury, 1995), we present a revised theoretical framework for evaluating how sociocultural contexts may moderate the ways in which pandemic-related stress risks poor couple functioning or promotes couples' resilience. We briefly describe the theoretical model and associated relationship research in the pandemic context and then evaluate how two illustrative sociocultural contexts (country/culture and race/ethnicity) might impact pandemic-related external (disease risks and stress exposure) and internal (psychological distress and felt belonging) stress and adaptive relationship functioning. Our review reveals that much remains to be learned about how couples embedded in different sociocultural contexts have adapted over the course of the global pandemic and highlights key areas for future research.