3-078 - Parental Burnout and its Consequences Against Children

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Parenthood is considered as the most paradoxical of all social roles in adulthood. It is both fulfilling and demanding as it taxes and replenishes parents’ emotional resources at the same time. Sometimes, resources to cope with demands are not sufficient and parents succumb to the stress of child care and education, falling into parental burnout (Mikolajczak et al., 2017; Roskam et al., 2017). Parental burnout is a unique context-specific syndrome encompassing exhaustion related to one’s parental role, emotional distancing from their children, and loss of accomplishment in one’s parental role contrasting with how the parent felt before about parenting (Roskam et al., 2018). Research into parental burnout started a decade ago and concentrated first on parents of chronically and/or severely ill children (Norberg, 2007). It only recently broadened its focus to include all types of parents. Of all the recent findings, the effect of parental burnout on child-related outcomes is undoubtedly the most urgent issue to deal with. In particular, while the effect of parental burnout on the parent himself (e.g. addiction or sleep problems) is comparable in size to that of job burnout and depression, its effect on neglectful and violent behaviour against the child(ren) are much larger than that of job burnout and depression (Mikolajczak et al., 2018). The aim of the current symposium is to go deeper in the study of parental burnout and its consequences on children.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Isabelle Roskam, Université catholique de Louvain

Individual Presentations

• The Impact of Parental Burnout Interventions on Violent and Neglectful Behaviors Toward Children - Presenting Author: Maria-Elena Brianda, Université catholique de Louvain; Non-Presenting Author: Moïra Mikolajczak, Université catholique de Louvain

• Maternal Parental Burnout and Sibling Relationships in Chinese Adolescents: Neglectful Parenting Behavior as a Mediator - Presenting Author: Bin-Bin Chen, Fudan University

• Children’s Experiences of Parental Burnout - Presenting Author: Laure du Pouget de Nadaillac, Middlesex University London

• Daily Distress and Support in Parenting: Impact on the Quality of the Parent-Child Relationship - Presenting Author: Aurélie Gillis, Université catholique de Louvain; Non-Presenting Author: Isabelle Roskam, Université catholique de Louvain