The Role of Intimate Partner Violence, Couple Dissatisfaction and Parenting Behaviors in Understanding Parental Burnout

Abstract

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.

A systematic review of parental burnout and related factors among parents

“…Two researchs study on parenting burnout in infants [ 30 , 34 ], five studies [ 16 , 18 , 29 , 33 , 51 ] on parenting burnout in parents of exceptional children, one study [ 48 ] on children with diabetes and one study on kids who needed ongoing pediatric outpatient care [ 32 ]. Seventeen research included both mothers and fathers, and nine studies [ 28 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 40 – 42 , 47 , 52 ] were conducted on a sample of just mothers from the general community. The most frequently used measurement for PB was the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) with different versions, followed by the Parental Burnout Inventory (PBI) [ 32 , 37 , 47 , 50 ], Parental Burnout Measure (PBM-12) [ 40 ], Burn-out Measure Short version (BMS-10) [ 41 ], Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ) [ 48 ], Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) [ 51 ].…”

“…As far as parents are concerned, parenting burnout is influenced by their own factors to some extent. General demographic factors associated with parental burnout were gender, educational level and income [ 42 ]. Mothers are more likely to experience parenting burnout than fathers [ 35 , 46 , 51 ].…”

“…For parent–child relationship, a poor parent–child relationship could result in parenting burnout, while a good parent–child relationship can positively affect parenting burnout [ 31 ]. For interpersonal factors in spouses, marital satisfaction in demographic information is related to parenting burnout [ 42 ]. Satisfaction with marital status stems from the establishment of good interpersonal relationships between couples, and couples with good marriages share parenting responsibilities, provide timely emotional support to each other, and maintain good communication and interaction styles, resulting in low parenting stress and burnout.…”

“…In the case of children with autism [ 33 , 39 ], for example, the social and communication barriers associated with the disease lead to parenting burnout by affecting the interpersonal relationships between parents and children. Children’ behavior problems and negative parenting behaviors were significantly positively correlated to parental burnout by affecting parent–child communication [ 42 , 44 ]. Furthermore, social support as an organizational or community factor strongly protected parental burnout from parents [ 38 , 48 , 49 ].…”

Changes in Attitude toward Intimate Partner Violence in Rapidly Developing Countries: The Case of Indonesia

“…However, most IPV studies have focused on women's perceptions of resistance and the prevalence of violence, and few have examined the factors influencing men's perceptions of IPV. If discrimination against women generated via long-standing patriarchal cultures and practices in male-dominated societies, as described in feminist theory (Bell and Naugle 2008;Kelly 2011;Lawson 2012;Sunmola et al 2021), is a factor leading to IPV (Prandstetter et al 2023), it is necessary to examine the attitudes of men who have lived in such cultures. Furthermore, according to the modernization theory (Kaya and Cook 2010;Martinez and Khalil 2017), attitudes toward IPV have become more resistant to social and economic development.…”