Misbah Ali

The researchers of the Georgia State University have found in the recent experimental study that the lockdown curbs led by the COVID-19 have resulted in the increased rates of physical and psychological aggression among the couples.

The study whose findings were published in the journal ‘Psychology of Violence’, found that the pandemic caused a six-to-eight fold rise in rates of intimate partner aggression across the US.

Physical aggression grew from two acts per year before the pandemic to 15 acts per year once shelter-in-place curbs began, while Psychological aggression surged from 16 acts per year to 96 acts per year.

It was indicated in the research that the stress associated with the pandemic was strongly related to the perpetration of intimate partner aggression, even among people considered at low risk.

“It’s the difference between having a bad fight with your partner once a month versus twice a week,” the study’s lead author and professor of psychology and director of the Center for Research on Interpersonal Violence, Dominic Parrott said.

In April 2020, researchers recruited 510 participants and asked them questions related to the period prior to and after the onset of the pandemic in their community

Participants answered about coronavirus stressors, perpetration of physical and psychological aggression towards their partner, and heavy drinking, which is known to facilitate aggression.

“There are data showing that after natural disasters, for example, when basic resources are lost and people have to live in close proximity, intimate partner violence goes up. Our fundamental aim was to document what was happening as a result of the pandemic,” Parrott explained.

While rates of intimate partner aggression remained aloft among heavy drinkers, it was non-heavy drinkers who were most affected by pandemic-related stress. In fact, the relation between physical aggression after the onset of the pandemic and coronavirus stress was apparent only in people who consumed fewer drinks per day.

“People who aren’t heavy drinkers may be able to prevent stress from affecting their relationships under normal circumstances, but we hypothesised that the extreme events of the pandemic might change that. And that's how the data played out,” Parrott said.

“Pandemic stress didn’t really tip the scales towards violence among heavy drinkers, but for non-heavy drinkers, all bets were off,” Parrott further added.