Call for Papers: Special Issue of Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Journal of Social and Personal Relationships:

Relationships in the time of COVID 19: Examining the effects of the global pandemic on personal relationships

Dr. Jennifer Bevan (Chapman University) and Dr. Pamela Lannutti (La Salle University) are editing a special issue of Journal of Social and Personal Relationships entitled “Relationships in the time of COVID 19: Examining the effects of the global pandemic on personal relationships.” This special issue of JSPR focused on the effects of the pandemic on personal relationships will serve as a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners as we work to understand the pandemic’s personal and social implications and to develop recommendations for scholars and practitioners in assisting relational partners to thrive in such difficult times.

We expect the special issue will serve as a catalyst to develop and challenge multiple theoretical and methodological aspects of relationship science. We will only consider papers where the pandemic is a central focus of the research project. Papers in the issue will be consistent with existing JSPR guidelines and requirements for papers.

We seek a wide range of papers examining the effects of the pandemic on personal relationships. Some examples of possible topics for the special issue are:

The effect of social distancing, “stay at home” orders, and self-isolating on personal relationships
The adoption and adaptation of technology for forming and maintaining personal relationships during the pandemic
The influence of experiences of illness and grieving due to the pandemic on personal relationships
Changes in relationship dynamics and communication as a result of the pandemic
Pandemic-related challenges in understudied personal relationships
Mental health, mindfulness, and well-being changes, challenges, and opportunities related to the pandemic and their impact on personal relationships
Pandemic-related health and relational communication intersections across a variety of personal relationship contexts
“Dark side” issues (e.g., uncertainty, privacy, conflict, intimate partner violence) that arise, change, or become magnified between relational partners in response to the pandemic
The special issue will place high value on diversity, equality, and inclusion. As such, we especially seek to publish studies that include diverse samples including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic status, and nationality. We seek papers that use a variety of qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches to studying personal relationships.

The special issue is expected to be published in Fall 2021, but accepted articles will be published online on a rolling basis before the full special issue is released. If you have an article that you think would be appropriate for this special issue, we invite you to submit an extended abstract to Jennifer Bevan (bevan@chapman.edu) or Pamela Lannutti

(lannutti95@lasalle.edu). Extended abstracts will be accepted and reviewed on rolling basis until September 1, 2020. The abstract should outline your research questions, sample, and key findings. The abstract should be no more than 500 words. Please also include provisional title and author information (i.e., title, names, affiliation, contact details for all authors); this information will not be counted toward the word limit. Authors will be informed no later than October 1, 2020 whether or not they are invited to submit a full manuscript. Full manuscripts will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until February 1, 2021.