Reunion of International Couples in Formal and Informal Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has generated major social disruptions, including the implementation of border enforcement measures in many countries to contain international travel. As tourism has been the most frequent means for international couples to reunite, a minority of countries have implemented specific measures to allow foreign partners to cross the borders. The purpose of this article is to provide a global overview of the regulations of cross-border travel for couples respectively in formal and informal relationships. This research is based on data on travel guidelines from 175 countries and a typology that distinguishes countries that have not implemented travel restrictions (46%), countries that have enacted border enforcement regulations but with special measures to allow formal and informal couples (15%), countries with border enforcement and special measures for formal couples only (15%) and countries that have implemented a travel ban with no special measures (23%). Results show that the specific measures for formal and informal couples are implemented independently from the region but with much higher propensities in high-income countries. However, the administrative requirements, particularly for informal couples, vary greatly among the countries that allow couples to reunite. The article concludes that exemptions are key when analysing border closures and that specific measures could be applied more inclusively to allow informal couples to reunite.

Mixed-status informal couples in a cascading crisis. Immobilisation, mobilisation, and normalisation?

“…4. A similar instrument had already been implemented elsewhere, that is, in Denmark (Lee et al 2021) and Norway (Balke Staver and Eggebø 2023).…”

A prospective study of relationship and sexual satisfaction during the first year of the COVID‐19 pandemic: The role of dispositional vulnerabilities and external stressors

“…For relationship researchers, one of the perhaps most interesting aspects of the pandemic is its unprecedented effects on physical closeness among couples. Although the widespread enforcement of mobility restrictions such as travel bans, quarantines, or curfews led cohabitating couples to spend more time in close proximity, the same restrictions tended to have the opposite effect on noncohabitating partners, who were often prevented from seeing one another (Lee et al, 2021). Research conducted before the pandemic on differences in relationship satisfaction between individuals in proximal relationships (i.e., individuals who either live together or typically see each other daily), and those in long‐distance relationships have yielded inconsistent results (e.g., Kelmer et al, 2013).…”

“…Less is known about situational moderators of the association between relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction—a gap that could be narrowed by studying the consequences of the pandemic on cohabitating vs. noncohabitating couples. Specifically, many cohabitating couples experienced greater physical proximity during the pandemic and had more frequent opportunities for sexual intimacy than would otherwise have been the case, while noncohabitating couples faced periods of enforced sexual abstinence during travel bans and strict lockdown measures (Cito et al, 2021; Lee et al, 2021). Although prolonged periods of separation are likely to affect all aspects of relationship satisfaction, general aspects of relationship quality (e.g., conversation, mutual support, humor) may be easier to sustain without physical contact than is the case for sexual activity.…”