Parental Burnout: What Is It, and Why Does It Matter?

Abstract

Parenting can be wonderful. However, it also can be stressful, and when parents lack the resources needed to handle stressors related to parenting, they may develop parental burnout. This condition is characterized by an overwhelming exhaustion related to one’s parental role, an emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of parental ineffectiveness. Researchers have begun to document the antecedents of parental burnout, but little is known about its consequences. Here we investigated the impact of parental burnout on escape ideation, parental neglect, and parental violence through two cross-lagged longitudinal studies ( N = 918, N = 822) that involved the completion of online surveys three times over a year. Results indicated that parental burnout strongly increases escape ideation as well as neglectful and violent behaviors toward one’s children (aggregated Cohen’s d = 1.31, 1.25, and 1.25, respectively). These findings show that parental burnout is a serious condition that urgently requires more attention.