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; M _age = 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.
Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing financial interests or funding source that could have influenced the data collection, analysis, or conclusions. M.M. and I.R. have now founded a training institute (name currently masked for blind review) which delivers training on parental burnout to professionals. The institute did not participate in the funding of this study nor did it influence the process, the results, or their interpretation in any manner.
(© The Society for Affective Science 2021.)