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.

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.

Basic Personal Values and Parental Burnout: A Brief Report.

Recent evidence has shown that Western parents are five times more vulnerable to developing parental burnout than parents in other parts of the world. It has also been found that this augmented susceptibility is explained by the group tendency of individualism cultural value that prevails in Western societies. Still, whether this relation observed at the group mean level across countries can be generalized to the association of personal value with parental burnout across individuals has not yet been explored. In order to address this question, the current study collected a sample of 643 Polish parents and assessed their report of value priorities and parental burnout. The results demonstrated that individual-level values indeed predict susceptibility to parental burnout. Specifically, parents are more susceptible to parental burnout when prioritizing values that emphasize power and achievement, whereas prioritizing benevolence protects parents from parental burnout. Associations between parents' gender, personal values, and parental burnout were also examined. Consistent with previous studies, fathers reported fewer parental burnout symptoms compared to mothers. However, gender differences in parental burnout were not mediated by personal values, nor did parents' gender moderate the effect of personal values on burnout. In sum, together with previous results obtained at the society level, our finding points out the role of values in predicting parental burnout. A possible future direction of research was discussed: examining the affective mechanism (e.g. parental regulation of emotions) underlying the relationship between personal values and parental burnout. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00103-y.

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.

Validation of the Polish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA).

This study examined the factorial structure of the Polish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA-PL) and its relation with other variables, previously shown to be antecedents or outcomes of parental burnout. The PBA-PL was administered to a total sample of 2,130 parents along with other instruments depending on the study. Factorial analyses of the PBA-PL supported both the original four-factor model of parental burnout (exhaustion related to parenting, feelings of being fed up with parenting, emotional distancing from one's children, and contrast with previous parental self) and a second-order model with a global parental burnout underlying the four first-order factors. Both subscale and global scores were reliable. Significant correlations were found between PBA-PL and neuroticism, emotional intelligence, maladaptive perfectionism, perceived social support, depressive symptoms, marital satisfaction, and life satisfaction. PBA-PL also predicted both parental neglect and parental violence beyond socio-demographic factors, depression, and job burnout.

Emotional Intelligence Mitigates the Effects of Customer Incivility on Surface Acting and Exhaustion in Service Occupations: A Moderated Mediation Model.

This study contributes to the constantly accumulating evidence on the effects of customer incivility (CI) on service employee exhaustion. Previous research has demonstrated that surface acting (SA) acts as a mediating variable in the relationship between CI and exhaustion. This study extended prior findings in two ways. The results of Study 1 (315 retail sales employees, 62.2% female) demonstrated that SA mediates the positive relationship between CI and exhaustion while controlling for employees' trait positive and negative affectivity (NA). The results of Study 2 (292 customer service representatives, 51% female) supported a moderated mediation model demonstrating that trait emotional intelligence (EI) buffers the direct and indirect (through SA) effects of CI on exhaustion. Specifically, it was found that employees exposed to many uncivil customer behaviors but high in trait EI reported using less SA and, thus, experienced fewer exhaustion symptoms than their low in trait EI counterparts. These results highlight EI as an important personal resource that mitigates the adverse effects of CI on service employees' exhaustion, and suggest that organizations should consider implementing EI training programmes for their frontline service employees.

Is It Enough to Be an Extrovert to Be Liked? Emotional Competence Moderates the Relationship Between Extraversion and Peer-Rated Likeability.

Likeability represents one of the aspects of social status in a peer group and refers to the extent to which one is accepted, preferred by others, and perceived as a likeable companion. Previous research has demonstrated that likeability is partly determined by dispositional factors. One body of research shows that variance in likeability across individuals can be traced to personality traits, mainly extraversion and agreeableness. Another expanding body of research demonstrates that success in achieving peer acceptance is determined, in some part, by the emotional competencies (ECs) of an individual. In an attempt to combine these two approaches and to clarify some inconsistencies in the results concerning the personality-likeability relationships, this study was designed to examine the interactive effect of adolescents' personality traits (i.e., extraversion and agreeableness) and ECs on peer-rated likeability in adolescence. A sample of 230 adolescents (47% female) from two comprehensive secondary schools in Poland completed measures of personality traits and ECs, as well as a sociometric assessment of likeability in their classrooms. The results demonstrated that interpersonal EC acts as a moderator in the relationship between extraversion and peer-rated likeability. Specifically, extraversion predicted greater likeability among adolescents with high interpersonal EC but not among adolescents with low interpersonal EC. The study yielded new insights into the determinants of likeability, as it demonstrates that adolescents need to be both extrovert and possess high interpersonal EC in order to be judged highly likeable by their peers. It also bears practical implications for the improvement of adolescents' position and acceptance within their peer group. The results suggest that encouraging "rejected" adolescents to reach out to others in an extrovert fashion is necessary but insufficient to increase their likeability. Improving their interpersonal EC is also necessary. The observation that higher levels of interpersonal EC helps adolescents to achieve higher acceptance in their peer group suggests the need to implement school training programs aimed at improving the core ECs (identification, understanding, expression, regulation and use of emotions).

Emotional Intelligence Buffers the Effects of Negative Emotions on Job Burnout in Nursing.

The study was designed to examine whether trait emotional intelligence would moderate the impact of negative emotions at work on job burnout. A total of 188 female nurses participated in this study and completed measures of trait affectivity, emotional intelligence, anger and sadness at work, and burnout. The results revealed significant and positive relationships between both types of negative emotions and burnout above and beyond demographics and the nurses' trait affectivity. Importantly, the study demonstrated that trait emotional intelligence buffers the effects of negative emotions on burnout. Specifically, anger- and sadness-related emotions predicted greater burnout among nurses with low trait emotional intelligence but not among nurses with high trait emotional intelligence. These results suggest that emotional intelligence training could be implemented to prevent the adverse effect of negative emotions felt at work on job burnout.