(PS10-A22) Relationship Skills Among Latine Couples Predict Relationship Satisfaction Longitudinally During the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

              The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted families across the U.S., and has disproportionately impacted the U.S. Latine population in particular, including higher rates of COVID-19 infections relative to other groups, and an increased likelihood of being considered an essential worker. Although Latine individuals have been shown to report higher levels of psychological distress relative to other groups during the pandemic, less is known about the experiences of Latine couples during the pandemic, including factors that support relationship maintenance. Using the framework of the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model of marriage, the current study aims to determine whether couple relationship skills identified at the time of marriage predicted relationship satisfaction longitudinally during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. In particular, we examined relationship skills in the five core domains of relationship quality – (1) emotional intimacy, (2) partner support, (3) sexuality, (4) respect and control, and (5) conflict communication – to determine whether they serve as protective factors against the impacts of stress on romantic relationship satisfaction.

              We conducted an optional online survey during the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in May-June 2020 in a sample of couples already enrolled in a longitudinal study of marital functioning for newlywed couples in which at least one partner identified as Latine/Hispanic. At the time of the survey, couples were in the 3^rd or 4^th year of the longitudinal study. In the current study, we included data from responses we received from 145 couples (including 67 dyads and 12 individual spouses). As our outcome variable, we used data from the Couples Satisfaction Inventory-16 collected during the COVID survey period. For our predictor variables, we used data from the Relationship Quality Interview conducted at the baseline assessment of the study, specifically couple-level scores of the five core domains of relationship quality. We used multilevel modeling to assess the extent to which scores each of the five domains of relationship quality during the newlywed stage predict relationship satisfaction for husbands and wives during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, controlling for baseline relationship satisfaction and perceived chronic strain during the pandemic survey. We found that both partners had higher relationship satisfaction scores when they entered marriage with higher scores in the domains of couple support and conflict management. Unexpectedly, husbands had higher relationship satisfaction when scores on respect and control were lower during the newlywed stage, with a non-significant trend for the same pattern among wives. No other relationship skill domains were associated with relationship satisfaction. These findings collectively show that Latine couples’ abilities to provide high quality support that matches the needs of partners, and couples’ abilities to effectively manage conflicts, supported better relationship adaptation to the unanticipated stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.