Report
2020 American Life Panel Survey on Impacts of COVID-19
May 29, 2020
Published in: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (2021). doi: 10.1017/dmp.2021.134
Posted on RAND.org on February 09, 2022
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and associated social distancing increased stressors related to risk for domestic conflict, but increases in domestic conflict early in the pandemic have yet to be studied in community samples.
Increase in domestic conflict (verbal or physical fights) since the beginning of the pandemic was assessed in 1,196 partnered and cohabitating respondents, drawn from a nationally representative sample, in May 2020. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were used to estimate associations of demographic characteristics and financial worry with domestic conflict.
An increase in domestic conflict was reported by 10.6% (95% CI: 7.7–13.4) of the sample. Domestic conflict increase was significantly associated with younger age, lower education, and financial worry.
Increases in domestic conflict were seen in certain vulnerable groups and in those who report financial worry. Policies ensuring financial stability, particularly early in the disaster conditions, could reduce domestic conflict during continued COVID-19 conditions or other disasters.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation External publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.