Giulia Zoppolat

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | VU · Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology

Long-distance romantic relationships (LDRRs) have grown increasingly common due to career-related necessity and the proliferation of digital technologies. We sought to understand how LDRRs differed from individuals in cohabitating romantic relationships (CRRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a multinational, six-wave dataset collected during th...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing measures have caused widespread social and economic disruptions, resulting in spikes in unemployment and financial instability, along with drastic changes to people's ability to feel socially connected. Many of the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are risk factors for depressive...

Amidst a global pandemic, survival needs become salient and the ability of individuals to regulate feelings and actions might be particularly relevant to protecting themselves from harm. Drawing from Regulatory Focus Theory individuals who are more focused on prevention are also more likely to enact health-protective behaviours, including sexual he...

External stressors can erode relationship quality, though little is known about what can mitigate these effects. We examined whether COVID-related stressors were associated with lower relationship quality, and whether perceived partner responsiveness—the extent to which people believe their partner understands, validates, and cares for them—buffers...

Objective: Self-regulation can help individuals cope during stressful events, but little is known about why and when this might occur. We examined if being more focused on prevention was linked to negative affective experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also examined possible underlying mechanisms for this association, and whether social su...

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people’s lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies ( N = 3271) using repeated measure an...

External stressors can erode relationship quality, though little is known about what can mitigate these effects. We examined whether COVID-related stressors were associated with lower relationship quality, and whether perceived partner responsiveness—the extent to which people believe their partner understands, validates, and cares for them—buffers...

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people’s lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies (N = 3,271) using repeated measure an...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing measures have caused widespread social and economic disruptions, resulting in spikes in unemployment and financial instability, along with drastic changes to people's ability to feel socially connected. Many of the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are risk factors for depressive...

The quality of romantic relationships influences physical and mental health. However, maintaining happy and healthy relationships is challenging; relationship satisfaction declines over time, and relationship dissolution is frequent. This raises the question of which factors contribute to the maintenance versus decline of relationship satisfaction....

People in romantic relationships tend to have positive feelings toward their partner and want their relationship to last. However, maintaining a romantic relationship over time is challenging, and people can often experience mixed and conflicting feelings (i.e., ambivalence) toward their significant other. While research has identified the serious...

In this preregistered study, we examined educational disparities in the trajectory of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether such educational disparities would be mediated by financial stress associated with the pandemic. Data were drawn from the Love in the Time of COVID project ( N = 2,204; four waves collected between March and J...

Objective: Past research suggests that having a stronger ability to regulate feelings and behaviors can help individuals cope during stressful events, but little is known about why and when this might be the case. We examined if being more focused on prevention (i.e., health security motives) impacted personal well-being during the COVID-19 pandemi...

Socioeconomic disparities in mental health have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have examined the mechanisms through which such disparities in mental health occurred. This pre-registered study aimed to examine socioeconomic disparities, as indexed by education levels, in the trajectory of mental health at the early...

Amidst a global pandemic, people’ survival needs become salient and the ability for people to regulate feeling and actions might be particularly relevant to protecting oneself from harm. Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1998) proposes that people pursue their goals by having a focus on prevention (i.e., motivated by security) or promotion (i.e., m...

Romantic partners regularly encounter conflicts of interests and sacrifice their self-interest for their partner or the relationship. But is this relationship maintenance behavior always appreciated by the partner receiving the sacrifice? We examined whether expectations of sacrifices (i.e., beliefs that sacrifices are necessary, normal, and expect...