Three reasons why parental burnout is more prevalent in individualistic countries: a mediation study in 36 countries.

PURPOSE: The prevalence of parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children, varies dramatically across countries and is highest in Western countries characterized by high individualism. METHOD: In this study, we examined the mediators of the relationship between individualism measured at the country level and parental burnout measured at the individual level in 36 countries (16,059 parents). RESULTS: The results revealed three mediating mechanisms, that is, self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, high agency and self-directed socialization goals, and low parental task sharing, by which individualism leads to an increased risk of burnout among parents. CONCLUSION: The results confirm that the three mediators under consideration are all involved, and that mediation was higher for self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, then parental task sharing, and lastly self-directed socialization goals. The results provide some important indications of how to prevent parental burnout at the societal level in Western countries.

Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study.

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% mothers; Mage = 39.20) and showed that the prevalence of parental burnout varies dramatically across countries. Analyses of cultural values revealed that individualistic cultures, in particular, displayed a noticeably higher prevalence and mean level of parental burnout. Indeed, individualism plays a larger role in parental burnout than either economic inequalities across countries, or any other individual and family characteristic examined so far, including the number and age of children and the number of hours spent with them. These results suggest that cultural values in Western countries may put parents under heightened levels of stress. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-020-00028-4.

Parental burnout in Lebanon: Validation psychometric properties of the Lebanese Arabic version of the Parental Burnout Assessment.

This study- the first study on parental burnout in an Arabic speaking country in the Middle East- aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Lebanese translation of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA-Lebanese). The PBA-Lebanese was administered to 200 Lebanese parents (67% mothers). The results showed parental burnout is a valid construct relevant to Lebanese culture. In particular, we replicated the original four-factor structure of the PBA and we tested a second order factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis. The first and second order factor model fitted the data, and reliability indexes were high (α = .97 for exhaustion, .95 for contrast, .92 for feelings of being fed up, .80 for emotional distancing and .98 for the global score). There was no significant gender difference in the prevalence of parental burnout, but mean levels were higher in mothers than in fathers. Both less educated parents and single parents reported higher parental burnout, pointing to the possible role of education and social relations as protective factors for Lebanese parents.