Parental Burnout and Child Behavior: A Preliminary Analysis of Mediating and Moderating Effects of Positive Parenting.

Despite its significant growth over the past fifteen years, research on parental burnout is just beginning to explore the relationships of the syndrome with child behavior. Previous research with adolescents has shown the existence of associations between parental burnout and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in the offspring. The current study is an attempt to (i) replicate this preliminary evidence specifically among Chilean preschool children and (ii) explore the mediating/moderating effects of positive parenting that may be involved in these putative associations. A sample of 383 Chilean mothers participated in this cross-sectional online study. The results confirmed the associations between parental burnout and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. We also observed that positive parenting was a mediator in the relationship linking parental burnout and the child's internalizing (full mediation) and externalizing (partial mediation) behaviors. Positive parenting also partially mediated the association between the child's externalizing behavior and parental burnout. Our results further suggested that the child's externalizing behavior was possibly a more substantial contributing factor to parental burnout than the child's internalizing behavior.

Treating Parental Burnout: Impact and Particularities of a Mindfulness- and Compassion-Based Approach.

Mindfulness- and self-compassion-based programs have been shown to reduce parental stress, and levels of mindfulness and self-compassion have been shown to be negatively related to parental burnout (PB) factors. Based on these results, the present study aimed to test the efficacy of an 8-week mindfulness and compassion-based group approach (MCA) (n = 29) compared with the existing Parenting in Balance Program (PBP) (n = 25). Parents were blindly enrolled in one of the two conditions. Parental burnout, parental neglect and violence, irritability, parental balance between stress-enhancing and stress-alleviating factors, hair cortisol, and mindful parenting and self-compassion were measured before, after, and three months after the end of the program. All the measured outcomes positively changed over time in both conditions, except for irritability. Large effect sizes were found for parental burnout, parental neglect and violence, and mindful parenting and self-compassion. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the decrease in parental burnout in the MCA was not significantly related to an increase in mindful parenting nor self-compassion. Furthermore, certain participants from the MCA group reported higher levels of parental burnout after the intervention. The absence of specific effects between MCA and PBP programs suggests the presence of common effectiveness factors. Therefore, future studies need to analyze specific variables that may explain differential effects of programs on parental burnout levels.

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.

Does Parenting Perfectionism Ironically Increase Violent Behaviors from Parent towards Children?

BACKGROUND: Past research has shown that perfectionistic strivings (PS) and perfectionistic concerns (PC) in the parenting domain are associated with an increase in parental burnout (PB), and that PB causally increases violence towards one's offspring. One may therefore wonder whether parenting perfectionism may ironically increase violence towards one's offspring. OBJECTIVE: To the best of our knowledge, no study has ever investigated whether perfectionism (PS and PC) predicts violence towards one's offspring, or whether PB could explain this link. In the current pre-registered cross-lagged study, we hypothesized that an increase in PS and PC would lead to an increase in violence via an increase in PB. METHOD: 228 participants responded to a longitudinal online survey, with three measurement occasions spaced 2 months apart. RESULTS: Contrary to expectations, cross-lagged path models revealed that violence towards the offspring prospectively predicted an increase in PS and PC. Mediation models showed that PB was not a significant mediator. Results of all models did not change when controlling for social desirability. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that violence towards the offspring increases the risk of PS and PC in parents. Results are discussed in light of the feeling of guilt experienced by parents. IMPLICATIONS: Current worries that parenting perfectionism may paradoxically increase violence appear to be unwarranted at this stage. Moreover, correlation is not causation; thus, emphasizing caution before coming to clinically and societally relevant conclusions in cross-sectional studies. Thus, the PB and child maltreatment literature should slowly shift to using more longitudinal and causal designs.

I should not have had a child: Development and validation of the Parenthood Regret Scale.

Parenthood is one of the most important social roles, but the consequences of becoming a parent are not always as expected. It is estimated that in developed countries, up to 5%-14% of parents regret their decision to have children and if they could turn back time, they would choose childlessness. While such a situation can have serious consequences for the entire family system, our knowledge of the causes and consequences of regretting parenthood is very limited. Beyond the possible taboo, one factor that is certainly responsible for the small number of studies on regretting parenthood is the lack of questionnaires to measure its severity. In the present study, we decided to fill this gap and developed a new questionnaire-the Parenthood Regret Scale. In a series of three studies (total N = 2,994) conducted on English-speaking, French-speaking, and Polish-speaking samples, we analyzed the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the new scale. The results confirmed that the Parenthood Regret Scale has a single-factor structure, which has been replicated in the three languages. Furthermore, the analyses confirmed that higher parenthood regret is negatively related to life satisfaction, and positively related to the severity of depressive symptoms and parental burnout. In light of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the Parenthood Regret Scale is a valid and reliable measure that can help advance research on an almost unknown issue of great social importance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the Link Between Implementation Fidelity, Quality, and Effectiveness of Teacher-Delivered Anti-Bullying Interventions in a Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study examined the relation between both implementation fidelity and quality and the outcomes of two different anti-bullying interventions targeting distinct processes involved in bullying: moral disengagement and social norms. In total, 34 French-speaking Belgian teachers from six elementary schools were trained to deliver either the moral disengagement or the social norms intervention to their Grade 4-6 students (N = 747, 50.4% boys) in a randomized controlled trial. Students reported their moral disengagement, perceived injunctive class norm toward bullying, and bullying behaviors in the fall and spring of the 2018-2019 school year. Teachers' implementation fidelity and quality were assessed through direct observation in each class by two independent raters with a satisfying interrater reliability. A multiplicative moderated mediation model using latent change scores revealed that both greater fidelity and quality amplified students' decrease in moral disengagement, which was accompanied by a decrease in bullying. Importantly, when quality was sufficient, fidelity did not matter. However, higher fidelity could compensate for a lack of quality. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant change in students' perceptions of the class injunctive norm, even under ideal implementation conditions. Alternative mediators should thus be considered. Because implementation by teachers inevitably fluctuates, anti-bullying program components should be evaluated under various implementation conditions to determine their cost-effectiveness ratio and to gain insights into how anti-bullying programs work.

Parental burnout and borderline personality stand out to predict child maltreatment.

Parental burnout is a severe disorder resulting from the exposure to chronic stress in the parental role, that can translate into neglectful and violent parental behaviors towards the offspring. This study (N = 1003 parents) aims to examine the relative weight of parental burnout, job burnout, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, borderline personality, sadism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and child abuse potential, in predicting violence and neglect towards the offspring. Social desirability was controlled. When all predictors are entered together in the model, violence and neglect towards the offspring are best predicted by borderline personality and parental burnout. Our results also indicate that sadism is a robust predictor of violence, however weaker than parental burnout and borderline personality. These results emphasize the importance of preventing parental burnout and supporting parents with borderline personality.

Parental Burnout in the Context of Special Needs, Adoption, and Single Parenthood.

Although early work on parental burnout in the 1980s did not link parental burnout to specific parenting situations, the idea that parents affected by specific vulnerability factors were particularly at risk of burnout quickly emerged. Based on the etiological model of parental burnout (i.e., the balance between risks and resources), the objective of this study was to investigate if there were specific vulnerability factors that significantly increase the risk of parental burnout. 2563 parents participated in the study. We compared parents with a child with special needs (n = 25), parents who had adopted a child (n = 130), and single parents (n = 109), to strictly matched control groups of parents. Parents with a child with special needs displayed higher burnout and lower balance between risk and resources than the control group; parents with an adopted child had similar levels of both parental burnout and balance; and single parents had higher parental burnout but similar balance. Parents who combined specific several vulnerability factors were at greater risk of burnout. Single parenthood and adoption do not in themselves trigger a process leading de facto to other risk factors, but having a child with special needs does.

An experimental manipulation of cognitive appraisals in parental burnout.

As it often applies to other mental conditions, one may posit that cognitive appraisals might be causal in the onset and maintenance of parental burnout. Recent studies have indeed highlighted that negative cognitive appraisals are positively associated with parental burnout. Howbeit, none of these studies being experimental in design, it has-thus far-been impossible to establish causality. To shed light on the question, the present study relied on an experimental design where the perception of three known antecedents of parental burnout was manipulated: co-parenting support, emotion regulation and child-rearing practices. 313 French- and English-speaking parents took part in the study which employed a 4 (Condition: control, perceived co-parenting support, perceived emotion regulation, perceived efficacy of child-rearing practices) × 2 (Time: pre- and post-manipulation) mixed-design, with Condition as the between-subject factor and Time as the within-subject factor. Results showed that the experimental manipulation was effective in the "co-parenting support" condition solely and this effective manipulation further yielded a significant effect on the decrease of parental burnout scores, hence suggesting a causative relation between cognitive appraisals and parental burnout. Our results highlight both the complexity of manipulating parents' cognitive appraisals and the scope for relieving partnered parents from their parental burnout symptoms.

Parental burnout at different stages of parenthood: Links with temperament, Big Five traits, and parental identity.

The study aimed to analyze the links between traits from different levels of personality organization and parental burnout. To answer the research questions, a cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,471 parents aged 19 to 45 years (mean age 35.30, SD = 5.98). The results showed that the severity of parental burnout was linked to traits ranging from biologically determined temperament traits to basic personality traits to a sense of parental identity. More specifically, we found higher burnout among parents who have difficulty shifting between tasks and coping with strong stimulation, low emotional stability and conscientiousness, and low identification with the parental role. We also found that certain personality traits were more strongly associated with parental burnout among those who had children in early childhood or preschool period (under the age of seven) than those in later stages of parenthood. The study contributes knowledge about the personality correlates of parental burnout and the role of personality at different stages of parenthood.

Optimizing the Assessment of Parental Burnout: A Multi-informant and Multimethod Approach to Determine Cutoffs for the Parental Burnout Inventory and the Parental Burnout Assessment.

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) and the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA). The good psychometric properties of these instruments have been replicated across different samples and countries, but thresholds for identifying impairing PB levels (i.e., cutoff scores) have not yet been established. The present study aims to fill this gap by adopting a multi-informant and multimethod approach to a sample of 192 burned-out and control parents. PBI and PBA cutoffs were derived from the combination of several PB indicators, based on a preregistered analysis strategy. Results identified a score of 74.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) = [69.48-79.68]) for the PBI and 86.3 (95% CI = [79.49-93.03]) for the PBA as indicators of the most severe PB levels.

Are parents of intellectually gifted child(ren) at higher, lower or equal risk for parental burnout?

Being a parent can lead to exhaustion when risk factors offset protective factors. Recent research enabled the understanding of parental burnout antecedents among parents of typical and atypical children, but we know few about parental burnout (PB) among parents of intellectually gifted (IG) children. At the same time, several qualitative studies report particularities of being a parent of IG child(ren). In this quantitative study, we explore whether the risk of PB is different for parents of IG child(ren) than for the global population. We use two samples of 196 strictly matched parents: the first is composed of parents having at least one IG child, the second is constituted of demographically matched control parents (data collection took place from November 2019 to February 2020). We use Kruskal-Wallis analysis to compare groups. The results suggest that having an IG child does not significantly modify the risk of PB (Mean IG group = 32.45, SD = 28.21; Mean control group = 27.69, SD = 25.58; KW = 3.500, p = 0.06; Cohen's d = 0.18). Implications and future perspectives are discussed, including the relevance of taking into account other special features of the IG child and the intellectual giftedness of the parent in future researches.

Validation of the Ukrainian version of the Parental Burnout Assessment.

The aim of the present study was to develop a Ukrainian version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) and examine its psychometric properties among Ukrainian parents. We examined the factorial structure of the Ukrainian version of the PBA (PBA-UA) and its relation with other variables, both antecedents and consequences of PB, in a sample of 1896 parents including 1735 (91,5%) mothers and 161 (8,5%) fathers. The original four-factor model (exhaustion from parental role, emotional distancing from one's child, feelings of being fed up with parenting and contrast with previous parental self) and second-order model with a global parental burnout as a second-order factor fit the data well. The results of both subscale and global scores were reliable. The PBA-UA showed a positive association with perfectionism and general stress and a negative association with resilience. The low association with socio-demographic factors (i.e., marital status, number of children, number of children living in the household, work status) was replicated in accordance with previous studies of parental burnout, nevertheless mothers had higher level of parental burnout than fathers. PBA-UA also predicted both parental neglect and parental violence, even beyond general stress. The good psychometric properties of the PBA-UA suggests that this questionnaire can be used to assess parental burnout among Ukrainian parents.

The missing link between poverty and child maltreatment: Parental burnout.

BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment remains a major social welfare and public health issue. The relationship between SES and child maltreatment has been intensively studied. And syntheses of meta-analyses have identified low SES as one of the five major antecedents of child maltreatment. OBJECTIVE: The underlying mechanism that explains the association between low SES and child maltreatment, has however not been clearly demonstrated. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: In a sample of 3429 parents (51.53 % low SES), we postulated a double mediation to explain this relationship, namely that low SES increased the imbalance between the parent's risk and resource factors, and that this imbalance in turn increased parental burnout, which itself increased parental neglect and violence. METHODS: We estimated three successive models encompassing the direct and indirect effects of low SES on the imbalance between risk and resource factors, parental burnout, parental neglect and parental violence. RESULTS: The results provide little support for the direct effect of poverty on parental burnout, parental neglect and parental violence. They rather confirm the mediating role of the imbalance between risk and resource factors and parental burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Parental burnout could be the missing link between poverty and child maltreatment. The results are discussed for research and clinical purposes.

Reappraisal, social support, and parental burnout.

OBJECTIVES: Parental burnout is a prevalent condition that affects parents' functioning and health. While various protective factors have been examined, little is known about their interplay. In the current study, we examined the joint effect of two protective factors against parental burnout (one external-social support and one internal-cognitive reappraisal). We were specifically interested in whether the presence of one factor could compensate for the lack of the other. METHODS: To address this question, 1835 participants were drawn from five countries: United States, Poland, Peru, Turkey and Belgium. RESULTS: Results suggested that both social support and cognitive reappraisal were associated with lower parental burnout. An interaction was also found between the resource factors, such that the presence of cognitive reappraisal compensated for the absence of social support. CONCLUSIONS: These findings point to ways in which parental burnout could be reduced, especially in situations where social support is not easily available.

The effectiveness of moral disengagement and social norms as anti-bullying components: A randomized controlled trial.

This three-armed randomized controlled trial examined how moral disengagement and social norms account for change in bullying behavior and their potential as targets of anti-bullying components within separate interventions among 1200 French-speaking Belgian elementary students (48% boys, 9-12 year-olds, 57 classes, nine schools) during 2018-2019 (no ethnicity data available). Mediation analysis revealed that students' moral disengagement successfully decreased (ß = -.46), which, in turn, reduced both bullying (ß = .33) and outsider behaviors (ß = .20), and increased defending (ß = -.10). Intervening on social norms decreased bullying (ß = -.18), but not through the perceived injunctive class norm as intended. Guidelines to open the "black box" of anti-bullying programs and determine the cost-effectiveness ratio of their components are provided.

Parental Burnout and Its Antecedents among Same-Sex and Different-Sex Families.

Parental burnout (PB) results from a chronic imbalance between risks and resources and has severe and extended consequences on the wellbeing of parents and their children. Because same-sex (SS) and different-sex (DS) families face partially different stressors (e.g., SS parents are more stigmatized) but have also partially different resources (e.g., more egalitarian task sharing in SS couples), the current research aimed to investigate whether PB differs or not according to family type. Two studies were conducted. In study 1, family type differences in PB were explored among 114 demographically matched SS and DS families from 18 countries. Study 2 further explored the predictive value of family type, age, gender, and balance between risks and resources (BR2) in PB, using a sample of 222 matched SS and DS families. Parental burnout was not associated with family type in either study. Although differentially composed, the global BR2 score did not differ across family type and was a significant predictor of all PB dimensions, while controlling for the effect of family type, age, and gender. Thus, in accordance with reviewed studies, parental sexual identity was not associated with family functioning. Future studies should investigate the impact of specific risks and resources (e.g., social support from chosen social networks or legal climate) on PB levels among SS families.

Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) in Different Hispanic Countries: An Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Approach.

Parental burnout is a unique and context-specific syndrome resulting from a chronic imbalance of risks over resources in the parenting domain. The current research aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) across Spanish-speaking countries with two consecutive studies. In Study 1, we analyzed the data through a bifactor model within an Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) on the pooled sample of participants (N = 1,979) obtaining good fit indices. We then attained measurement invariance across both gender and countries in a set of nested models with gradually increasing parameter constraints. Latent means comparisons across countries showed that among the participants' countries, Chile had the highest parental burnout score, likewise, comparisons across gender evidenced that mothers displayed higher scores than fathers, as shown in previous studies. Reliability coefficients were high. In Study 2 (N = 1,171), we tested the relations between parental burnout and three specific consequences, i.e., escape and suicidal ideations, parental neglect, and parental violence toward one's children. The medium to large associations found provided support for the PBA's predictive validity. Overall, we concluded that the Spanish version of the PBA has good psychometric properties. The results support its relevance for the assessment of parental burnout among Spanish-speaking parents, offering new opportunities for cross-cultural research in the parenting domain.

Validation of the French version of the moral disengagement in bullying scale: Testing Bandura's conceptual model.

Although Bandura conceptualized moral disengagement as a global dimension encompassing a set of mechanisms, the validated factorial structures of the existing scales have not fully matched the conceptual model so far. The present study attempts to narrow the gap between the moral disengagement conceptual model and its measurement tools by testing five factorial structures based both on theory and previous empirical work. A sample of 1107 pupils from Grades 4 to 6 completed the French version of the Moral Disengagement in Bullying Scale (Fr-MDBS). Confirmatory factorial analyses revealed that a second-order factor structure, congruent with the conceptual model, was better than a single-factor and as good as a first-order multi-factorial structure. Results also supported both construct validity (gender comparison) and predictive validity of the scale. Moral disengagement mechanisms were associated with self- and peer-reported bullying and victimization, defender, and outsider behaviors. Euphemistic labeling, diffusion of responsibility, and distorting consequences were also related to bullying whereas moral justification and victim attribution were related to both bullying and victimization. Euphemistic labeling, diffusion of responsibility, distorting consequences, and victim attribution were negatively associated with defender behavior and positively related to outsider behavior. Advantageous comparison was not related to any of the examined variables. The Fr-MDBS seems to be a useful assessment tool to validly examine either the mechanisms or the global dimension of moral disengagement.

Burnout across boundaries: Can parental burnout directly or indirectly influence work outcomes?

Burnout, while historically considered a work-related condition, can be associated with parenting where it can have direct impacts upon parental outcomes and one's personal resources such as mental health. However, little is known about the domain-incongruent effects of burnout and thus whether parental burnout can manifest within the workplace. The current study uses longitudinal data collected from 499 parents over three intervals across an 8-month period to explore two possible mechanisms. Firstly, a direct relationship is explored by considering whether parental burnout provides incremental validity above job burnout in the prediction of three work outcomes: job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and counterproductive work behaviors. Secondly, it is explored whether depression mediates the relationship between parental burnout and work outcomes. Findings suggest parental burnout may have limited impacts upon work outcomes, providing the impetus for a new direction of research to better understand whether or how burnout in one domain of life can influence the outcomes in other life domains. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02687-3.