Figure - uploaded by Fernando Salinas-Quiroz
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
High levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children. It is not yet clear, however, whether parental burnout varies by culture, and if so, why it might do so. In this study, we examined the prevalence of parental burnout in 42 countries (17,409 parents; 71...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... particular, parental burnout was higher among younger parents, mothers, parents in disadvantaged neighborhoods, non-working parents, parents with more children, parents with younger children, parents in two-parent families (compared to those in multigenerational families), single parents (compared to those in both two-parent and multigenerational families), and parents in step families (compared to those in both two-parent and multigenerational families). The findings (Table 7) confirm that individualism is significantly predictive of parental burnout beyond sociodemographic variables, parental workload, economic inequalities across countries, and the five other cultural values (B = 0.24, p < 0.001). ...Context 2
... particular, parental burnout was higher among younger parents, mothers, parents in disadvantaged neighborhoods, non-working parents, parents with more children, parents with younger children, parents in two-parent families (compared to those in multigenerational families), single parents (compared to those in both two-parent and multigenerational families), and parents in step families (compared to those in both two-parent and multigenerational families). The findings (Table 7) confirm that individualism is significantly predictive of parental burnout beyond sociodemographic variables, parental workload, economic inequalities across countries, and the five other cultural values (B = 0.24, p < 0.001). ...Similar publications
The trajectories and patterns in our emotions are essential to understanding our affective experience, which is not stationary but ebbs and flows. This study focuses on affect anchored in the context of parenting: daily emotional exhaustion, emotional distance from children, and feeling fed up. We specifically examined whether dysfunction in parent...
In society and its mass media, adolescence is typically portrayed as a disruptive and rebellious stage of life ("Storm and Stress"). Previous research suggests that the parental adherence to these negative Storm and Stress beliefs about adolescence are persistent and predict subsequent "Storm and Stress" behaviours among their adolescent children....
Parental burnout (PB) is a chronic stress-related condition resulting from long-lasting exposure to overwhelming parenting stress. Previous studies showing the seriousness of this condition stressed the urgent need to provide researchers and practitioners with effective assessment tools. Validated PB measures are the Parental Burnout Inventory (PBI...
Recently, the topic of parental burnout has gathered much attention and studies have begun to integrate the parenting and work domain. In this regard, this study aimed to explore the association between work-family enrichment and parental burnout, and the mediation effects of parenting sense of competence and parenting stress. Data were collected a...
Citations
... The PBA's theoretical four-factor structure has been validated across numerous studies and translated into several languages (i.e. Finnish, Swedish, Polish and Chinese), further reinforcing its validity, reliability and relevance [18,19]. ...
... Several personal factors, such as gender, number and age of children, relationship status, and income, modestly impact the likelihood of experiencing PB [11,18]. The same factors are likely to affect the tasks or parenting occupations in which the parent engages [2,20]. ...
... The PBA measures the severity of PB through 23 items rated on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from 'Never' (0 points) to 'Everyday' (6 points), with a maximum score of 138 points. A score of 53 or higher indicates a risk of PB, while a score of 86 or above suggests a PB diagnosis [14,18]. The original PBA assesses the four dimensions of PB, and has been validated, translated and adapted into various languages through multiple studies [25][26][27][28]. ...
... Although the term parental burnout is not a new construct (it appeared in the literature as early as the 1980s), it takes on special significance today, as the 21st century seems to make special demands in the exploration of this area due to the numerous problems of parental functioning [4,5]. Fortunately, there are emerging successful attempts to objectify Since 2017, Roskam and Mikolajczak et al. [6][7][8][9] have provided evidence in favour of the existence of parental burnout, which is defined by them as a four-dimensional set of well-being parameters that result from prolonged exposure to chronic parenting stress, which may result in a parent's sense of incompetency in their role as a parent: ...
... Their role, or rather the performance of it, becomes unpleasant. There is a lack of involvement, which can lead to parental neglect of the child and the need for the parent to escape [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. ...
... There is the huge need for dynamic multivariate models to understand the causation of parenting stress, because parenting has been shown to be a both complex and stressful activity [8,10,12]. The classification of variables could be derived from human ecological theory, which was adapted by Abidin in the causation model of parenting stress [75] to understand how individuals interact with each other and with their environment [76]. ...
Background: The work main purposes were to identify the sources of problems and demands causing parental burnout and to specify the resources/support factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was based on the Balance Theory of Risk and Support/Resource Factors (BR² Model) by Mikolajczak and Roskam. Methods: The study explored the predictive value of socio-economic variables, religiosity, the meaning of life, positivity, perceived social support, family functionality, and balance between risks and resources in parental burnout using the structural equation modelling method on a sample of 337 parents. Results: The presence of children’s learning difficulties and behavioural problems are the most important risk factors and aggravate parental burnout, and the presence of a meaning of life, support coming from the family, family affection, and relationship lengths are the main protective resources, allowing parental burnout to decrease during the pandemic crisis. Conclusions: The findings are instructive for both theory and practice. The study successfully operationalised the BR² model—the model obtained from the path analysis fits well, confirms the structure of parental burnout theory, and demonstrates the appropriateness of the application of BR² theory in crisis conditions. The most effective way to help parents in a crisis situation is (in addition to psychological support) the effective provision of specialist help for children, resulting in a reduced risk of an unfavourable balance between demands and family resources. The family- or parent-oriented interventions that address professional help in problems with children can be the most effective at reducing the negative consequences of a pandemic on children and their parents. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of investing in healthcare infrastructures.
... When prolonged parenting stress exceeds resources at individual, family, and social levels, parents become susceptible to burnout . Parental burnout affects nearly one in ten parents from Western countries before the COVID-19 pandemic (Roskam et al., 2021) and manifests through four main symptoms . First, parents feel exhausted and run down by their parenting role. ...
... The 23-item Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA; Roskam et al., 2018Roskam et al., , 2021) was used to measure parental burnout (e.g. 'I have zero energy for looking after my child(ren)'; 'I'm no longer the parent I used to be') on a 7-point scale ranging from 0 (Never) to 6 (Every day), with higher scores indicating greater burnout. ...
... Developed from testimonials of parents experiencing burnout, the PBA is the most widely used self-report measure for assessing parental burnout across four dimensions (i.e. emotional exhaustion in one's parental role, emotional distancing from one's children, sense of being fed-up with parenting, and contrast with the previous parental self) as well as the total score (i.e. the sum of all 23 items), demonstrating good reliability across diverse contexts worldwide (Roskam et al., 2021). In this study, the total score was used. ...
Background: Parental burnout – a condition characterised by intense exhaustion related to parenting, emotional distancing from one’s children, a loss of parental fulfilment, and a lack of recognition of oneself as the parent used and wanted to be – is particularly critical during the perinatal period. While previous research has focused mainly on mothers, suggesting that dispositional and couple factors influence parental burnout more than sociodemographic factors, little is known about fathers’ experiences and the influence of personality and couple functioning on parental burnout. Method: This cross-sectional study examined the impact of personality functioning (Level of Personality Functioning Scale – Brief Form 2.0) and the moderating role of parenting alliance(Parenting Alliance Measure) on parental burnout (Parental Burnout Assessment) among 434 cisgender heterosexual first-time parents (345 primary caregiving mothers: Mage = 38.03, SD = 6.20;89 secondary caregiving fathers: Mage = 38.29, SD = 6.85) with children aged 0–12 months (49.54% assigned females at birth). Results: Fathers reported lower parental burnout and higher parenting alliance compared to mothers. Greater impairments in self-functioning were associated with increased parental burnout, particularly in mothers. Parenting alliance moderated this relationship; lower perceived parenting alliance amplified the nega-tive impact of self-functioning impairments on parental burnout for both mothers and fathers. Interpersonal functioning did not significantly predict parental burnout. Conclusion: Tailored interventions, especially perinatally, should aim at strengthening parenting alliance and enhancing mothers’ and fathers’ self-functioning, with future research exploring diverse family and cultural contexts for comprehensive intervention strategies. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
... Roskam et al. (2018) showed that 5.9% of parents (n = 901) experienced parental burnout. Roskam et al. (2021) recent study of 17,409 parents from 42 countries demonstrated that the prevalence of parental burnout varies globally, ranging from 1 to 10%. Wang et al. (2022) noted in an empirical article that the prevalence of parental burnout among Chinese parents was as high as 9.71%. ...
... Responses scales were rated on a 7-point Likert scale: never (0), a few times a year or less (1), once a month or less (2), a few times a month (3), once a week (4), a few times a week (5), every day (6). This scale has been verified and has shown good reliability in 42 countries (Roskam et al., 2021). In this study, Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.94, and a higher score indicated a higher level of parental burnout. ...
This study empirically investigated the mechanisms underlying work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict’s effect on second-child fertility intention by focusing on parental burnout and grandparent support. A sample of 1072 Chinese respondents who had already had one child were surveyed. The results of the two-wave longitudinal study showed that both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict exerted a significant negative effect on second-child fertility intention. Mediation path analysis revealed that both independent variables had significant positive effects on parental burnout, while parental burnout exhibited significant negative effects on the dependent variable. Subsequently, our study confirmed that parental burnout served as a mediating variable between work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, and second-child fertility intention. Furthermore, grandparent support moderated only the direct positive effect of work-to-family conflict on parental burnout and the indirect effect of work-to-family conflict on second-child fertility intention via parental burnout. Thus, the indirect effect of work-to-family conflict on second-child fertility intention is weakened when grandparent support is high. The study offers implications that mitigating the negative effects of family-to-work conflict on second-child fertility intention require support not only from the micro-ecosystem of the family, but also from the meso- and macro-ecosystems, such as organizations and society.
... Such encouraging findings may also apply to the parental academic involvement context and inspire the development of effective interventions. This may be practically interesting for researchers and practitioners in the fields of family, educational, and clinical psychology, as the recent large-scale international studies have revealed a global trend in which parents often feel exhausted or even burnt out in their parental role in today's world, while at the same time experiencing a heightened sense of responsibility for supporting their children's school success (e.g., Roskam et al., 2017Roskam et al., , 2021Roskam et al., , 2022Teuber et al., 2024). P r e p r i n t n o t p e e r r e v i e w e d ...
... Previous studies have highlighted that parental academic involvement, parental emotional exhaustion, and student school performance can be influenced by family socioeconomic status (SES; Bakker et al., 2007;Benner et al., 2016), risk factors like parental health-related factors, and the presence of special needs or disabilities in the child (Roskam et al., 2021(Roskam et al., , 2022. Boys are more likely to be exposed to controlling parenting than girls, and fathers and mothers tend to differ in their involvement (Teuber et al., 2022(Teuber et al., , 2024. ...
... This frustration is potentially linked to the coercive and restrictive nature of their academic involvement that may undermine their sense of autonomy and competence and contribute to increased parent-child conflicts (Dumont et al., 2014). Additionally, these parents reported significantly higher levels of exhaustion, a key symptom associated with parental burnout (Roskam et al., 2021). ...
This study aimed to investigate the quality, underlying emotional processes, and impacts of parental academic involvement on children and parents from an organismic perspective using latent profile and transition analyses with 1,059 U.S. parents (52% mothers) of 6th–9th graders across two waves. Five parental involvement profiles were identified based on four dimensions (autonomy support, psychological control, structure, and warmth): Need-Supportive (~ 8%), Controlling (~ 27%), Autonomy-Supportive Warm (~ 10%), Mixed (~ 35%), and Low Involved (~ 20%). The Controlling profile showed high stability (86%), while the Need-Supportive profile demonstrated the highest dynamics (54%). Parental integrative emotion regulation predicted the highest probability of the Need-Supportive profile, while emotional dysregulation predicted the highest probability of the Controlling profile. Findings revealed no differences in children’s school performance across profiles, but the Need-Supportive profile was the most adaptive, fostering self-determination in parenting. The study has implications for improving involvement quality and supporting parents.
... This strain can exacerbate difficult child behaviors like social aggression and substance use, creating a cycle of stress within families 19 . Studies show that parental burnout affects a significant portion of parents globally, with varying prevalence rates 20 . While both mothers and fathers experience burnout, research on gender differences in burnout levels remains inconclusive 9,21,22 . ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively influenced families across the world and contributed to the likelihood of increased parental burnout and decreased parental psychological well-being. However, not all parents experienced parental burnout during the pandemic. In the current study, we focused on protective factors that buffered the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on parents and supported parents’ quality of life. Based on previous literature, we hypothesized optimism, humor, and resilience will be associated with lower levels of parental burnout. Two hundred and eighty-one Israeli parents participated in the study, completing questionnaires during the government-mandated lockdown. Questionnaires examined information pertaining to both participants’ personal characteristics (optimism and pessimism, self-enhancing humor, resilience, parental stress, and perceptions of the youngest child’s functioning) and background characteristics (parental age, gender, health condition, socioeconomic status, employment status, and youngest child’s age) to examine the relationship between these variables and parental burnout. Findings indicate that resilience, optimism, and humor facilitated reduced parental burnout and enhanced parental well-being during the pandemic. However, these variables were not associated with parents’ stress perception. This study sheds light on the importance of having an optimistic perspective, positive sense of humor, and resilience at times of prolonged stress. Implications for interventions targeting optimistic attitudes and humor are suggested.
... Parenting burnout (PB) has been a hot topic in parenting research for the last decade (1)(2)(3). PB is an emotional disorder related to parenting that develops when a parent is exposed to parenting stress for an extended period (3). The main symptoms are feelings of extreme exhaustion concerning one's parental role, emotional detachment from one's children, and a sense of losing parental selfefficacy, all of which are markedly different from one's own previous parenting experiences (4). ...
... There is an increasing focus on PB in various countries, with studies documenting that PB is prevalent in most countries around the world (e.g., Finland, Belgium, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan) (1,(6)(7)(8). A 42-country study established that the incidence of PB is approximately 5% in Western countries and 1-2% in Asian countries including China (1). ...
Introduction
Although parenting is a worthwhile and joyful process, it can also cause stress, potentially leading to parental burnout. With the implementation of the three-child policy in China, more parenting hours and higher economic costs may increase the risk of parental burnout.
Objectives
This study investigated how was maternal parenting stress related to mothers’ parental burnout, as well as the potential mediating effect of their marital satisfaction and the moderating effect of their socioeconomic status on this relationship.
Methods
Data were collected from 314 mothers living in mainland China. The Chinese versions of the Parenting Burnout Assessment Scale, Parenting Stress Index, and Marriage Perception Scale were used to measure mothers’ parental burnout, parenting stress, and marital satisfaction.
Results
Mothers‘ parenting stress was significantly and positively related to mothers’ parenting burnout. Mothers’ marital satisfaction mediated this relationship. Mothers’ socioeconomic status moderated the first half of the mediation model, and parenting stress exhibited a greater effect on marital satisfaction when mothers had a higher socioeconomic status.
Discussion
These findings indicated that mothers’ parenting stress could be alleviated by increasing marital satisfaction, which, in turn, reduced the risk of parental burnout. Furthermore, socioeconomic status may enhance the negative effects of parenting stress on marital satisfaction among mothers.
... Parenting inherently encompasses a multitude of stressors, such as role overload, parenting guilt, and negative child behaviour, which are associated with elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in mothers (Luthar and Ciciolla 2015). Furthermore, recent research indicates that Finnish parents exhibit higher levels of burnout compared to parents in many other countries worldwide (Roskam et al. 2021). In general, parental mental illnesses, including affective disorders, anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder, are relatively common, with estimates ranging between 10% and 38% (Ertel, Rich-Edwards, and Koenen 2011;Reupert and Maybery 2016;van Santvoort et al. 2015). ...
The study aimed to investigate the persistence or changes in trait resilience of parents over a 6‐year period and its association with stressful life events (SLEs). Furthermore, we explored the potential protective effect of trait resilience against exposure to stressful life events and their negative mental health consequences. The study population was drawn from the ongoing FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study and included 1388 mothers and 657 fathers who completed the CD‐RISC‐10 questionnaire during pregnancy and again 6 years later. Data collection involved self‐report questionnaires, including CD‐RISC‐10, EPDS, SCL‐90, and a questionnaire on SLEs. Data analysis utilised linear regression and statistical assessments. Parents in the highest or lowest quartile of resilience showed greater stability in resilience scores over time compared to those in the middle quartiles. Trait resilience during pregnancy was significantly associated with resilience 6 years later. SLEs did not moderate this association. Additionally, higher trait resilience consistently associated with lower levels of distress symptoms. The investigation of SLEs may require more nuance due to their event‐specific variability of impact. Furthermore, the study's sample size of individuals who experienced a high frequency of stressful life events was limited. Trait resilience appears to be rather stable, but also susceptible to some change. Because of its persistency and the positive impact on mental health it is worthwhile to be assessed as a part of comprehensive evaluation of parents' mental health.
... The experience of parenthood contributes to a sense of meaning and purpose in life (Hansen, 2012;Musick et al., 2016). However, parenthood is associated with elevated stress levels, increased in marital conflicts, and a negative impact on well-being (Blanco et al., 2020;Nelson-Coffey et al., 2019;Roskam et al., 2021). This phenomenon, which has been termed the "parenthood paradox," has been identified in numerous studies in which mothers and fathers experience both positive and negative effects as consequence of their role. ...
The relationship between parenthood and subjective well-being has been a subject of considerable interest in recent decades. Some studies have indicated that mothers and fathers exhibit lower levels of subjective well-being than those who are not parents, leading to the phenomenon known as the “well-being gap”. However, the results are often contradictory, and few studies have been conducted in the Latin American context. The objective of this study was to compare the subjective well-being of adults with and without children residing in Greater Santiago and Greater Concepción. The research employed a cross-sectional design, stratified sampling (n = 995) and included adults with and without children between the ages of 20 and 46. Subjective and eudaimonic well-being indicators were evaluated, along with sociodemographic factors as covariates. Mothers and fathers exhibited lower levels of life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect than adults without children. Meaning in life was the only well-being indicator positively associated with parenthood. Age and sex moderated some of these relationships. Differences were found between the two cities studied. A subjective well-being gap among parents in Chilean urban contexts was confirmed for most of the indicators evaluated, but not always in the same way in both urban centers.
... Additionally, parents may experience the kind of guilt induced by conflicting work-family lives, when they perceive that workplace roles and demands constitute a moral violation of their parental roles (Aarntzen et al., 2021;Judge et al., 2006). Some researchers investigating the effects of this workfamily guilt have suggested that guilt can lead to harmful outcomes such as decreased well-being, psychological distress, parental unrest, and parental burnout (Borelli et al., 2017;Roskam et al., 2021;Vahedi et al., 2019). Indeed, Simon (2014) argues that women who are torn between being a "good" mother/wife and being a "good" employee will see family and work as two independent roles under the pressure of sociocultural expectations and will face more stressors. ...
... Under the pressure of sociocultural expectations, women who are caught between being a 'good' mother/wife and a 'good' worker are known to view their family and work as two separate roles to conform to, which can lead to increased stress (Simon, 2014) and psychological health issues (Zhang et al., 2020). It is also indicated in literature that mothers, especially those with young children, face numerous challenges in work and non-work domains (Morgenroth et al., 2020), who are more negatively impacted by work's effects on family life compared to men, and consequently, experience more parental burnout (Brenning et al., 2022;Roskam et al., 2021). Thus, since mothers often take on the caregiving role within the family, their experiences at work, such as increased workload, can lead to further responsibilities, hence more stress and anxiety which restrict fathers' involvement in child-rearing activities and household chores (Favez et al., 2016), thereby damaging the co-parenting relationship. ...
Recent research has explored the relationships between gender roles, co-parenting, and work-family conflict, but the role of mediating variables in these relationships has been understudied. In particular, the potential mediating role of maternal gatekeeping remains an area that requires further exploration. The aim of this study was to test the mediating effects of psychological functioning and maternal gatekeeping variables in the relationship between working mothers’ gender role attitudes, work-family conflict, and co-parenting behaviors. The sample for this study consisted of 262 working married mothers living in various cities in Türkiye, each with at least one child aged between 2 and 7. The ages of the mothers ranged from 23 to 48 years (Mage=33.70, SD = 4.27). Participants completed several scales, including the Co-parenting Scale, Maternal Gatekeeping Scale, Gender Role Attitudes Scale, Work-Family Conflict Scale, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21. According to the results, work-family conflict was found to be indirectly related to co-parenting through the paths from psychological functioning to both encouraging and discouraging gatekeeping, whereas traditional gender roles were indirectly related to co-parenting only through encouraging and discouraging gatekeeping. The findings highlight the importance of enhancing psychological functioning, promoting positive gatekeeping, and reducing negative gatekeeping to improve co-parenting behaviors among working mothers facing work-family conflict. The study suggests that understanding the predictors and indirect relationships affecting co-parenting could guide prevention and intervention programs for parents.