The Mechanisms of Parental Burnout Affecting Adolescents’ Problem Behavior

Abstract

Parental burnout refers to the feelings of extreme exhaustion that many parents experience due to parenting. Although parental burnout has received considerable interest from researchers, the effects and mechanisms of parental burnout on adolescents’ physical and psychological development remain largely unknown. This study investigated the relationship between parental burnout and adolescents’ problem behaviors in Chinese families. We explored the mediating roles of family function, parental psychological aggression, and adolescent self-control, as well as the moderating role of co-parenting. Questionnaires were distributed to 600 adolescents and their primary caregivers, and the data were collected on three different occasions. In total, 174 paired participants completed the survey (44.9% boys; Mean-age = 14.18 years). Bootstrapping results showed that parental burnout was positively associated with adolescents’ problem behavior. In addition, family function, parental psychological aggression, and adolescent self-control mediated the relationship between parental burnout and adolescents’ problem behavior. Co-parenting moderated the effects of parental burnout on family function and parental psychological aggression. The result of structural equation modeling (SEM) generally supported the above results. These findings reveal the negative effects and mechanisms of parental burnout on adolescent problem behavior, providing empirical evidence that can be applied to prevent the negative effects of parental burnout.

Parental Burnout and Child Behavior: A Preliminary Analysis of Mediating and Moderating Effects of Positive Parenting

“…As opposed to the child’s internalizing behavior, which was weakly correlated with parental burnout ( r = 0.12), the size of the bivariate correlation coefficient between the child’s externalizing behavior and parental burnout was moderate ( r = 0.32). Our results thus replicate those of the authors of [ 12 , 27 , 28 ], who observed correlation coefficients between parental burnout and child internalizing/externalizing problems ranging from 0.12 to 0.24 in their respective samples. Additionally, as in Chen and his colleagues’ study [ 12 ], we observed that the association between parental burnout and child externalizing behavior was statistically stronger than the association between parental burnout and child internalizing behavior, z = −2.91, p < 0.01.…”

“…Of the three categories of parental burnout correlates outlined above, the last one (that relates to the child’s characteristics or behavior) has received much less scholarly attention thus far. In the studies of the few authors who have addressed this issue, we observe associations between parental burnout and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors [ 12 , 18 , 27 , 28 ]. However, because these studies were conducted in specific contexts (i.e., in Chinese settings with adolescents for the first, third and fourth studies) and under specific conditions (i.e., in the COVID-19 pandemic for Kerr’s study with only five items from the Parental Burnout Assessment Scale (PBA, [ 29 ]) and using a subset of children’s health questions from the National Survey of Children’s Health (Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, 2018)), these associations need to be replicated in different age groups and in different cultural contexts both with the 23 items that comprise the Parental Burnout Assessment Scale (PBA, [ 29 ]) and with a measure specifically intended to assess the child’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors.…”

“…Second, assuming that the hypothesized association between parental burnout and child behavior can be replicated, we will investigate the potential mediating/moderating effects of positive parenting on the bivariate associations. As in the case of the relationship between parental burnout and child behavior, very little literature sheds light on the mediating/moderating aspects in the association between parental burnout and child behavior (see [ 12 , 27 , 28 ] for the only attempts with mediation analysis among Chinese adolescents). Therefore, we cannot hypothesize whether positive parenting will mediate rather than moderate (or vice versa, or both) the association considered here.…”

Influence of Co-Parenting on Parental Burnout: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…For example, the theoretical framework proposed by Lui et al [ 17 ] explains how the family and personal factors of teenagers interact and have an impact on parents’ parenting burnout. Yuan et al [ 18 ] believe that adolescents’ difficult behavior plays an important role in the collaborative parenting conflict and parenting burnout. They further found that adolescents’ difficult behaviors and family function are widely regarded as the main individual factors affecting parenting burnout in the literature, and family function in family factors has exerted different influences and functions on collaborative parenting conflict, adolescents’ difficult behavior and parenting burnout.…”

Parental burnout and adolescents’ phubbing: Understanding the role of parental phubbing and adolescents’ psychological distress

“…According to family systems theory, the family is a dynamic and interactive system, and family members are interdependent and influence each other (Cox & Paley, 2003). Burned-out parents lack enthusiasm for parenting, have no energy to provide other support beyond basic care, and are more likely to engage in negative parenting practices, all of which considerably increase children's risk of negative behaviors, such as arguing a lot, threatening people, internalized problem behavior and externalized problem behavior (Chen et al, 2022; Yuan et al, 2022). Additionally, a prior study revealed that parenting stress increases children's risk for negative behavior (Mash & Johnston, 1990).…”