As well as the death rates and illnesses caused by the pandemic, there have been many other knock-on effects such as increased mental health issues, business interruption and education disruption. Lockdown restrictions and other factors have brought challenges that nobody could have predicted.
The last 12 months has also put a huge amount of pressure on relationships, with break-up and divorce rates soaring since the first lockdown. There are a number of reasons for this, such as:
Enforced time together
Lockdown restrictions and the limits on social activities has meant that couples have been forced to spend more time at home together. Usually, people would be going out to work, going out with friends, watching sports in the pub or enjoying hobbies that keep them out of the house. It is not natural for most couples to spend so much time together and they may have discovered that they are not as compatible as they thought.
Financial stress
Many people have been affected financially by the pandemic, from either reduced income through being furloughed, or their business had to close, or they have maybe even lost their job. This has put additional pressure on relationships, in some cases leading to arguments about money. There has been an increase in people looking for law firms advising client financial situations and the impact of divorce.
Individual mental health problems
The pandemic has been a very stressful, worrying and uncertain time and there has been a significant impact on people’s mental health. People who have had previous mental health issues have been experiencing increased stress from the pandemic, while people who do not usually have any mental health issues are also feeling the strain of the situation on their mental wellbeing. This in turn, often leads to added stress within the relationship, especially if both people are feeling more anxious than usual due to the pandemic.
Arguing about children/home schooling
Couples who have children are also arguing more about decisions on how to handle the existing situation. For many households, children are home schooling, which can place pressure on parents, especially for children who require parental help with learning.
Parents are arguing about situations they have never had to face before, as well as trying to support children who are going through a very difficult time. Having contrasting views on how to handle situations such as children wanting to see their friends, or how much time they should be studying could lead to arguments that would not usually be an issue.
A new outlook on life
All of the issues listed above will hopefully be problems that start to reduce once the world starts to get a bit more back to normal with the vaccination roll-out but the pandemic has changed a lot of people’s perspective on life.
Living under such restrictions has resulted in a lot more reflection on life and over the next months and years, people will make decisions that they might not have made if the pandemic had not have happened. A new prioritisation of individual happiness, or a desire to travel, or live in another area could all result in break-ups in the future, even after the pandemic.
These are just some of the added problems that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into relationships to increase break-ups and divorces and in many cases, there are more than one of these issues occurring. Even when lockdown restrictions are lifted, the long-term effects of the pandemic in relationships are likely to see higher numbers of divorces for some time.
