CoFam - Corona and family lives

The Austrian-wide qualitative longitudinal study ‘Corona and family lives’ explores the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on parents and their families, and is already being conducted since the first week of the Austrian-wide lockdown in March 2020.

Drawing on family stress theory and on family practice theory, the study provides a comprehensive sociological analysis of parents’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. It focuses on parents’ practices, strategies and resources in dealing with the coronavirus crisis and investigates its consequences over time.

The study comprises 98 respondents (parents of 181 kindergarten and school-aged children) and consists of two methodical strands: numerous repeated problem-centred telephone interviews and diary entries (12 completed waves of data collection).

Two subprojects analyse the effects of COVID-19 on women in Vienna (funded by the Vienna Municipal Department 57) and on work and care in families (funded by the Vienna Chamber of Labour).

Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Zartler, PD