The Effects of COVID-19 on Family Climate: A Fuzzy Clustering Approach to Examine Spanish Households

Juan Carlos Martín-Quintana, Juan Carlos Martín and Pedro F. Alemán
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Juan Carlos Martín-Quintana: Department of Education, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35004 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Juan Carlos Martín: Institute of Tourism and Economic Sustainable Development, Department of Applied Economic Analysis, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35001 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Pedro F. Alemán: Department of Psychology, Sociology and Social Work, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35004 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Spain was one of the countries in which more severe lockdown policies were imposed during the second term of 2020 to mitigate the unprecedented health crisis. The measures restricted citizens’ mobility, obliging families to stay confined at homes for 99 days since 15 March 2020. The measures created a number of challenges that affect the family climate. This paper aims to empirically analyse how the family climate in Spain has been affected by COVID-19. The family climate assessment was based on an online questionnaire answered by 2034 citizens. A multi-criteria decision-making method rooted in fuzzy logic and TOPSIS, and a fuzzy clustering method, are applied to analyse the effects of the COVID-19 on the family climate. The fuzzy clustering method reveals that there are three different family climate profiles, namely (1) extreme positive, (2) extreme negative, and (3) intermediate. Our results show that some traits affect having a more or less positive family climate. The authors discuss the main contributions and the policy implications that could provide insights into future measures.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; fuzzy logic; triangular fuzzy numbers; TOPSIS; fuzzy clustering; lockdown measures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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