Parental burnout : studies of associated factors, role of the spouse, testing the transactional model and identifying profiles of at-risk mothers

Contexte et objectifs : Dérivée du contexte professionnel, la notion de burnout parental a connu un essor récent dans la littérature scientifique (article 1). Ayant une prévalence élevée dans les pays occidentaux et des conséquences sur la vie familiale et les enfants, les objectifs de ce travail sont : 1) d'explorer les facteurs de vulnérabilité et de protection des mères face au burnout parental (article 2) ; 2) d'étudier le rôle spécifique du conjoint (article 3) ; 3) de tester l'application du modèle transactionnel au burnout parental (article 4) ; 4) d'établir des profils de mères à risque (article 5) ; 5) d'investiguer le vécu subjectif de la maternité des mères en burnout parental (article en cours de réalisation). Méthode : Deux études successives transversales ont été menées auprès de mères francophones pour répondre à ces objectifs. L'étude A (N=315 mères) comprend un volet quantitatif visant à évaluer par auto-questionnaires le burnout parental, le stress perçu, le soutien social, les stratégies de coping, l'anxiété et la dépression. L'étude B (N=1306 mères) comprend à la fois un volet quantitatif et un volet qualitatif. Le volet quantitatif est composé d'auto-questionnaires évaluant les mêmes variables que l'étude B en ajoutant le style d'attachement, le fardeau, la dépression post-natale et l'amour conjugal. Pour le volet qualitatif, des mères (N=18) ont répondu à un entretien semi-directif. Résultats : Les résultats soulignent que les mères ayant des symptômes d'anxiété et de dépression, utilisant des stratégies de coping centrées sur l'émotion et la recherche de soutien sont les mères les plus en situation de burnout parental. De plus, les résultats révèlent que les mères ayant un conjoint soutenant ont une meilleure santé mentale que les mères ayant un conjoint moins soutenant ou les mères célibataires. L'adaptation du modèle transactionnel au burnout parental est satisfaisante et offre une base dans l'élaboration d'un modèle de compréhension du burnout parental. Enfin, il apparait que les mères à risque sont plus jeunes, moins satisfaites de leur travail et de leur logement, ont une relation conjugale moins épanouissante et plus de symptômes d'anxiété et de dépression. Conclusion : Le burnout parental apparait être un syndrome psychologique singulier. La mise en exergue des facteurs associés, l'adaptation du modèle transactionnel et notamment l'identification de profils de mères à risques permettent d'envisager des retombées cliniques, que ce soit au niveau préventif ou thérapeutique. En outre, ces travaux ont ouvert de nombreuses perspectives de recherche concernant le concept de burnout parental.Context and objectives: Derived from the professional field, the notion of parental burnout has gained a recent growth in the scientific literature (article 1). Given the high prevalence of parental burnout in Western countries and its consequences on family life and children, the objectives of this work are: 1) to explore the factors of vulnerability and protection of mothers facing parental burnout (article 2); 2) to study the specific role of the spouse (article 3,); 3) to test the applicability of the transactional model to parental burnout (article 4); 4) to establish profiles of mothers at risk (article 5); 5) to investigate the subjective experience of motherhood of mothers with parental burnout (article in progress). Method: Two successive cross-sectional studies were conducted with French-speaking mothers to achieve these objectives. Study A (N=315 mothers) had a quantitative design aimed at assessing parental burnout, perceived stress, social support, coping strategies, anxiety and depression through self-questionnaires. Study B (N=1306 mothers) included both quantitative and qualitative data collection. The quantitative study is composed of self-report questionnaires assessing the same variables as Study B with the addition of attachment style, burden, postpartum depression and marital love. For the qualitative component, mothers (N=18) participated in a semi-structured interview. Results: The results highlight that mothers with symptoms of anxiety and depression, using emotionally focused coping strategies and seeking support, are the mothers with the highest manifestations of parental burnout. In addition, the results show that mothers with supportive spouses have better mental health than mothers with less supportive spouses or single mothers. The adaptation of the transactional model to parental burnout is satisfactory and provides a basis for developing a model for understanding parental burnout. Finally, it appears that at-risk mothers are younger, less satisfied with their work and housing, have a less fulfilling marital relationship and more symptoms of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Parental burnout appears to be a singular psychological syndrome. The study of associated factors, the adaptation of the transactional model and, in particular, the identification of profiles of mothers at-risk allow us to draw clinical implications, on both at the preventive and therapeutic level. In addition, this work has opened up numerous research perspectives concerning the concept of parental burnout

Maternal Burnout Syndrome: Contextual and Psychological Associated Factors

Background: Becoming a parent is one of the most significant experiences in a woman’s life. Including substantial and long-lasting mental, social, and physical charge, the parenting experience may also be a potentially stressful and overwhelming task. Since the eighties, the notion of parental burnout syndrome has gained increasing attention, but its contextual and psychological factors need to be better identified.Aims: To investigate a large array of contextual and psychological factors associated with maternal burnout syndrome in a French community-based population in order to contribute to better operationalize the notion of parental burnout and to explore its determinants.Method: A total of 304 French-speaking mothers (mean age = 34.8 years, SD = 6.72) completed a set of questionnaires including a sociodemographic form (in order to gather general information about the mothers, their spouses, and children living at home). The Perceived Stress Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory adapted to parents (MBI-parental), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Parental Stress Index-Short Form and the Ways of Coping Checklist were used in this study.Results: Multivariate linear regression analyses revealed that scores on the MBI-parental version were strongly and positively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, as well as with perceived stress related to parenthood and parenting stress levels. Moreover, using the task-oriented coping style in parenthood was strongly and positively associated with personal accomplishment. Conversely, some sociodemographic characteristics were found to be negatively associated with maternal burnout: being employed, working full time and being a mother living without a coparent.Conclusion: The construct of maternal burnout syndrome seems to be linked to a conjunction of psychological and contextual factors associated with maternal exhaustion. The implication of the results for prevention and intervention strategies are discussed

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

International audienceParental 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

Three reasons why parental burnout is more prevalent in individualistic countries: A 36-country study

Abstract 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.</jats:p

Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures. </jats:p

Parenting Culture(s) : Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures.peerReviewe

Parenting culture(s): Ideal-parent beliefs across 37 countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures

Gender Equality and Maternal Burnout : A 40-Country Study

In Western countries, recent decades have witnessed a revolution toward gender equality. Inequalities have been greatly reduced in areas such as education or employment. Because inequalities lead to distress, this development has largely benefited women. One notable exception is the realm of parenting, which has remained rife with inequalities even in the most egalitarian countries. We hypothesized that experiencing inequality in parenting when one holds egalitarian values and raising a child in a country characterized by a high level of gender equality in other areas, increases mothers’ psychological distress in the specific area of parenting. Multilevel modeling analyses computed among 11,538 mothers from 40 countries confirmed this prediction: high egalitarian values at the individual level and high gender equality at the societal level are associated with higher burnout levels in mothers. The associations hold beyond differences in sociodemographic characteristics at the individual level and beyond economic disparities at the societal level. These findings show the importance of egalitarian values and gender equality and their paradoxical effect when inequalities are still present in specific areas as parenting. This study reveals the crucial need to act not only at the micro level but also at the macro level to promote gender equality in parenting and prevent parental burnout.peerReviewe

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