Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Social Distancing and Social Vulnerability on Family Functioning in an International Sample of Households With and Without Children

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a worldwide event that has exacerbated stress and caused significant disruptions in the day-to-day living of families.Of particular concern are socially vulnerable families, which have felt the impacts of thepandemic most acutely. Because stress can alter family dynamics, it is important tounderstand which stressors impact families the most, and what resources can be leveragedto strengthen family functioning. The current study examined the impacts of COVID-19on the conflict and cohesion of households with children compared to households withoutchildren. Additionally, we sought to assess how conflict and cohesion are related to socialvulnerabilities in the context of the pandemic. Using an international sample, we analyzedresponses to the COVID-19 Household Environment Scale (N = 4,122) using descriptive and bivariate analyses. Latent class analysis was used to identify patterns of familyfunctioning in households with and without children. We found that social vulnerabilitywas associated with more disrupted family functioning, and that households with children(n = 2,666) reported less disrupted family functioning when compared to householdswithout children (n = 1,456), despite having higher social vulnerability scores. Ourexploratory latent class analysis identified a five-class model among both subgroups.Conflict, cohesion, family functioning, and social vulnerability varied significantly bysubgroup and class membership. Our findings add to a body of evidence that argues thatdespite facing greater vulnerability, households with children have many strengths todraw from. Family interventions that help to promote family cohesion and conflictresolution can foster resilience in stressful circumstances.