Family in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Family Ties and Communication Problems

The purpose of this paper was to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on family relationships. The paper seeks the answer to the following questions: i) To what extent have family ties become stronger? and ii) To what extent have communication problems in the family increased? Data were taken from a study on the social effects of the pandemic. Of the total respondents, 55% stated that their family ties had become stronger during the quarantine period. In contrast, 17% stated that communication problems in the family had increased. The quarantine period brought family members closer to each other in middle and high-income families, whereas unemployed and poor people faced greater economic problems. This reflected negatively on family relationships among some disadvantaged groups. The majority of those who reported that family communication problems had increased were poor, unemployed, and young people. Especially those who could not continue their work online faced greater economic and social problems during the quarantine period.