RELATIONSHIPS OF YOUNG PEOPLE (18-25) AND THEIR PARENTS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Young adults’ relationships with their parents change throughout their shared family life. Young adults who are ready to leave the family home usually have developed communication patterns with their parents. The COVID-19 pandemic time changed the natural course of many processes in society, including the
dynamics of family relationships. Some young people were forced to return to the family home, and their motivation was extrinsic, which may have affected the quality of relationships between young people and their parents. In this article, we indicate the dynamics and nature of changes in the relationship between parents and young people returning to the family home. We identify variables, conditioning relationships for individual characteristics such as broadening and adoption derived from the CEI-II questionnaire. Other variables include age, gender, and assessment of relationships with parents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, time spent talking to parents before and during the pandemic, topics discussed in conversations with parents, areas of conflict in relationships with parents, and emerging emotions toward parents. The research tool was a self-administered survey questionnaire. The study population was people aged 18-25, and the research sample is 568 from all over Poland. The survey was conducted using the CAWI method. Correlation
coefficient for ordinal variables, non-parametric tests (Wilcoxon test for pairs of observations), and decision classification trees were applied in order to determine the qualitative classification of the relationship with the parents in the context of obtaining high scores in terms of expanding knowledge and experiences and accepting the uncertain and unpredictable nature of everyday life. The main results of the study lead to a resolution indicating that the relationship of young people with their mother, in the subjective assessment has slightly deteriorated, the relationship with the father has not changed, those who obtain high scores in broadening have better relationships with their parents than those with low and medium scores. COVID-19, family relationships, teenagers, classification trees