THREE REASONS WHY PARENTAL BURNOUT IS MORE PREVALENT IN INDIVIDUALISTIC COUNTRIES: A MEDIATION STUDY IN 36 COUNTRIES: a mediation study in 36 countries

Isabelle Roskam, Joyce Aguiar, Ege Akgun, Andrew F. Arena, Gizem Arikan, Kaisa Aunola, Eliane Besson, Wim Beyers, Emilie Boujut, Maria Elena Brianda, Anna Brytek-Matera, A. Meltem Budak, Noémie Carbonneau, Filipa César, Bin Bin Chen, Géraldine Dorard, Luciana Carla dos Santos Elias, Sandra Dunsmuir, Natalia Egorova, Nicolas FavezAnne Marie Fontaine, Heather Foran, Julia Fricke, Kaichiro Furutani, Myrna Gannagé, Maria Gaspar, Lucie Godbout, Amit Goldenberg, James J. Gross, Maria Ancuta Gurza, Mai Helmy, Mai Trang Huynh, Taishi Kawamoto, Ljiljana B. Lazarevic, Sarah Le Vigouroux, Astrid Lebert-Charron, Vanessa Leme, Carolyn MacCann, Denisse Manrique-Millones, Marisa Matias, María Isabel Miranda-Orrego, Marina Miscioscia, Clara Morgades-Bamba, Seyyedeh Fatemeh Mousavi, Ana Muntean, Sally Olderbak, Fatumo Osman, Daniela Oyarce-Cadiz, Pablo A. Pérez-Díaz, Konstantinos V. Petrides, Claudia Pineda-Marin, Alena Prikhidko, Ricardo T. Ricci, Fernando Salinas-Quiroz, Ainize Sarrionandia, Céline Scola, Alessandra Simonelli, Paola Silva Cabrera, Bart Soenens, Emma Sorbring, Matilda Sorkkila, Charlotte Schrooyen, Elena Stănculescu, Elena Starchenkova, Dorota Szczygiel, Javier Tapia, Thi Minh Thuy Tri, Mélissa Tremblay, Hedwig van Bakel, Lesley Verhofstadt, Jaqueline Wendland, Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Moïra Mikolajczak

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Purpose: The prevalence of parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children, varies dramatically across countries and is highest in Western countries characterized by high individualism. Method: In this study, we examined the mediators of the relationship between individualism measured at the country level and parental burnout measured at the individual level in 36 countries (16,059 parents). Results: The results revealed three mediating mechanisms, that is, self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, high agency and self-directed socialization goals, and low parental task sharing, by which individualism leads to an increased risk of burnout among parents. Conclusion: The results confirm that the three mediators under consideration are all involved, and that mediation was higher for self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, then parental task sharing, and lastly self-directed socialization goals. The results provide some important indications of how to prevent parental burnout at the societal level in Western countries.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)681-694
Number of pages14
JournalSocial Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Volume59
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 May 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2023.

Keywords

  • Culture
  • Exhaustion
  • Fathers
  • Individualism
  • Mothers

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