How men & women's spent their days during Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of Canadians to change their daily routines and limit their in-person social contacts. Though necessary for limiting the spread of the disease, these measures are also likely to have deep-seated and potentially long-lasting impacts on the social and psychological well-being of Canadians. My aim is to understand the impact of the pandemic on the daily routines and emotional lives. The specific research objectives are: • To learn the impact of the pandemic on individuals' daily routines and emotional states • To identify effective coping resources and strategies • To discover variation across Ontario, across household type and genders in order to map out key points of vulnerability and resilience in the population Societal distancing measures of this scale have rarely been experienced – and they are absolutely necessary for public health (Anderson et al. 2020; Chen et al. 2020). But the measures come at the price of increased social isolation and economic hardship. The measures also demand that Canadians change their habits and reorganize their daily lives: for instance, drastically altering typical time-use and travel patterns (such as regular trajectories through work, school, shopping, entertainment, visiting friends and family) and interaction patterns (severe reduction of time spent with some friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances and dramatic increase in time spent with living partners). These changes can be especially disruptive for those who live in dense urban settings, in which dwelling size is typically small and much of social life and support takes place outside the home (Kyttä et al. 2016). Similarly, depending on a person's household situation, spending time isolated with immediate family can be emotionally gratifying but also a source of strain and conflict (Thoits 2011; Fuller-Iglesias et al. 2015). Social isolation, unemployment, and routine disruption are all known to cause important social, psychological, and mental health impacts (de Jong Gierveld et al. 2006; Folkman 2008; Pearlin 1999), which only further burden our already-taxed health care systems. To support a population dealing with unprecedented circumstances, we need fine-grained information on how exactly the social distancing measures are impacting people's daily lives, thoughts, and emotions. My innovative research design allows us to capture both disruption to daily lives and emotional states. In particular, I will use it to discover how experiences of distancing create key emotional states such as anger, frustration, sadness, boredom, and anxiety, but perhaps also new forms of meaning or joy – and how these vary in socially patterned ways, including by household structure, geographic location and gender (Barrett et al. 2016; Stets and Turner 2007).