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Dr. Susan Boon, Ph.D in Psychology, University of Calgary
Over 1.3 million Canadians have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 25,000 have died from complications associated with infection with the virus. The pandemic’s toll, however, has not been limited to its effects on our health; it has also caused considerable strain on romantic relationships all over the world.
I’m Dr. Susan Boon, a Psychology Professor from the University of Calgary. My research is with Canadian relationship researchers from the Universities of Calgary, Montréal, Sherbrooke, and Ottawa. In March of 2020, we joined researchers from 26 countries to study the effects of the pandemic on committed romantic relationships.
“Some individuals were more likely to experience distress as a result of the pandemic than others…”
To date, data analysis has focused on 305 participants who had been living with their current romantic partners for at least one year at the time of their participation in our study. Not surprisingly, these participants perceived that they were considerably more stressed, anxious, and depressed at the time of the pandemic than they had been beforehand. Some individuals, however, were more likely to experience distress as a result of the pandemic than others: The more participants worried that their romantic…
