Data from China during the pandemic
We conducted research to examine this important issue. Following the approval by the ethics committees of the funding institution (Ariel University), a leading market survey company employed a series of internet panels in China to recruit a national stratified sample (4–10 March 2020, n=1134; mean (SD) age of 30.99 (6.82), 53.5% female, see table 1). The sample was collected following an invitation to a number of randomly chosen panellists with recruitment procedures following those established by the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market and Social Research. We selected our sample from Hubei Province, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. Two hundred and fourteen participants (19%) were from the Hubei region with 128 from Wuhan city, with deliberate oversampling to include the exposed area in quarantine at the time of the study. One hundred and forty-one respondents began the survey but did not complete it. Figure 1 outlines the sample selection and analysis.
We employed a self-report questionnaire and asked respondents to indicate if they were in an intimate relationship, were currently in quarantine (yes/no) and their perceived general health from very bad (1) to excellent (5). Individuals in an intimate relationship were asked to rate the quality of that relationship from extremely unhappy (0) to perfect (6). Perceived changes since COVID-19 were assessed separately for five different relationships: intimate partners, friends, local community residents, Chinese within China and Chinese outside the country (5-point scale; from much more distant than before (1) to much closer than before (5), with 3 indicating no change). Psychological distress was measured using the six item Kessler distress scale (K6, Cronbach’s α 0.90).11 Scores ranged from 0 to 24, with a cut-off of ≥13 indicating risk of severe mental illness. Online consent was obtained for all participants.
For our analysis, descriptive statistics described improvements or decline in each partnership type since COVID-19 (namely, relations with partners, friends, the local community, Chinese in China and Chinese outside China). Five multivariate linear regressions were conducted through SPSS (V.25) with the following predictor variables: (1) sex, (2) age, (3) self-rated health, (4) quarantine status and (5) psychological distress (K6, Kessler distress scale) and with each of the relationship changes as outcome variables. Additional analyses of variance compared each relationship change by quarantine status (yes or no), after controlling for age and sex. Of the 1276 participants who saw and commenced the survey, 1135 (89%) completed the questionnaire. One hundred and forty-two respondents were in quarantine at the time of the study, and 893 participants were in a partnership. Two hundred and seventeen respondents (19.1%) were judged to be at risk of severe mental illness (K6 ≥13). Across the sample, respondents were most likely to say their partnership improved (better or much better) since the COVID-19 outbreak (53%), while a decline (worse or much worse) was the most cited answer for relationships with friends (37%), local residents (46%), other Chinese in China (38%) and Chinese internationally (50%; figure 2).
Using regression analyses, we found that being in quarantine was associated with relationship improvement for all except intimate partnerships, for which there was no significant effect (table 2, figure 3). Elevated psychological distress was negatively associated with relationship improvement for partnerships but positively associated with the improvement in relationships with friends, the local community and Chinese internationally (table 2). Good self-perceived health was positively associated with improvements with local communities and Chinese within China. Younger respondents reported improved relationships with all but their partners, for which there was no statistical association (p=0.76); male respondents reported improved relationships with local community and Chinese internationally.