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.

Familial influences on children's cigarette smoking have been established, yet little is known about whether these influences in childhood relate to offspring's smoking behavior in adolescence. Drawing on prior work showing that children's emotional and behavioral problems (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) are influenced by both interparental and parent-child relationships, we examined whether children's emotional and behavioral problems would further predict their smoking behavior in adolescence. Two hundred and twenty-one families were followed from early childhood (M age = 4.05 years) to the 10-year follow-up. Interparental relationship adjustment and disagreement, dysfunctional parenting, and children's emotional and behavioral problems were reported by both mothers and fathers. Adolescents' self-reported cigarette smoking status was assessed along with other demographic variables. Using structural equation modeling, the hypothesis was only supported based on mothers' reports, suggesting that early couple relationship adjustment and parenting relate to children's emotional and behavioral problems, which associate with smoking behavior in adolescence. When the hypothesized model was tested with emotional and behavioral problems separately, only behavioral problems were related to adolescent smoking for both parents. Findings from this study support models of family environment and children's behavioral problems, providing evidence of the long-term links with adolescent cigarette smoking behaviors. Further family-focused research and preventive work, for instance, testing the combination of partner support and parent training, are needed.

Parental burnout (PB), a relatively new and under-studied construct, is defined as a condition resulting from chronic parenting stress. While recent research confirmed its negative associations with familial variables, such as relationship satisfaction and positive parenting practices, little is known about the role of intimate partner violence (IPV) and how it relates to parental burnout. The present study, therefore, aimed to extend existing knowledge on chronic parenting stress by 1) testing for the mediational role of couple dissatisfaction in explaining the link from IPV victimization to PB as well as the link from IPV victimization to dysfunctional parenting, and 2) investigating how specialist gender roles and parental responsibilities for child care relate to IPV victimization and PB. Data collection was part of an international collaboration on factors related to parental satisfaction and exhaustion across different countries. Self-report data from Austrian mothers (N = 121) were collected online and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that couple dissatisfaction mediates the link from IPV victimization to PB, as well as IPV victimization to dysfunctional parenting. Furthermore, only specialist gender roles were significantly related to IPV, while parental responsibilities for child care did not significantly relate to experiences of violence. Additionally, neither specialist gender roles nor parental responsibilities were significantly associated with PB in the final model. Overall, our findings connect to family models, such as the Family System Theory and Spillover Theory, underscoring the importance of couples’ relationship quality for understanding parental burnout and parenting behaviors in mothers.

This study assessed the psychometric properties of three versions of the Parenting Scale (PS; original PS, 13-item version, and 10-item version) in three European middle-income countries. Background: The PS is one of the most frequently used questionnaires for measuring dysfunctional discipline strategies. Although its validity has been extensively investigated in American samples, there are mixed results regarding the recommended number of items and subscales, raising the question of replicability across European middle-income countries. Method: Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) and item response theory (IRT) were applied to N = 835 parents from North Macedonia, Moldova, and Romania. Results: All three versions were significantly correlated with parental-and child-related variables. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best model fit for the 10-item version, and configural and partial metric invariance across countries could be established for this version. Item response theory analyses also supported this measure. Conclusions: Our findings show that the 10-item version performed better than the 13-item version and the original PS both overall and on the country level. Reliability values were somewhat lower than reported in studies from the United States. Implications: The 10-item version constitutes a promising short measure for assessing dysfunctional parenting in European middle-income countries for researchers and practitioners.

Use of dyadic modeling in nursing has theoretical and practical importance, as the interpersonal processes related to health behaviors can be captured. Theoretical models focusing on dyadic coping with chronic illness and illness management are established in family nursing. However, few studies utilized dyadic designs in empirical research, as most studies are patient-centric or care partner-centric. With theoretical elaborations and examples, we first review how conventional health models have been extended using a dyadic perspective and then briefly review the major dyadic frameworks in nursing. Five frequently used dyadic models are described with examples from health and nursing research fields. Statistical applications and cultural considerations are reviewed. We conclude that dyadic modeling provides a useful lens for nursing research but continues to be underutilized.