From 2020... People living with close others (children or romantic partners) experienced better well-being before and during the pandemic’s first 6 months

From 2020... The Benefits of Living with Close Others: A Longitudinal Examination of Mental Health Before and During a Global Stressor. Sisson NM, Willroth EC, Le BM, Ford BQ. PsyArXiv, Dec 1 2020. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/v9mc4. https://europepmc.org/article/ppr/ppr321868

Abstract: For better or worse, the people we live with may exert a powerful influence on our mental health, perhaps especially during times of stress. The COVID-19 pandemic—a large-scale stressor that prompted health recommendations to stay home to reduce disease spread—provided a unique context for examining how the people we share our homes with may shape our mental health. A seven-wave longitudinal study assessed mental health month-to-month before and during the pandemic (February through September, 2020) in two diverse samples of U.S. adults (N = 656; N = 544). Pre-registered analyses demonstrated that people living with close others (children and/or romantic partners) experienced better well-being before and during the pandemic’s first six months. These groups also experienced unique increases in ill-being during the pandemic’s onset, but parents’ ill-being also recovered more quickly. These findings highlight the crucial protective function of close relationships for mental health both generally and amidst a pandemic.