Lockdowns put in place in response to the COVID-19 health crisis have changed daily functioning for families and potentially the emotional experience of individuals in their parenting role. Our study aimed to highlight the importance of the environmental consequences associated with lockdowns on parental burnout. We compared data on parental burnout levels from two French samples: the first collected in 2018 (N = 1332) and the second collected during the last month of lockdown (N = 522). Our results show that parents included during the lockdown period reported significantly, but slightly, higher saturation (a dimension of the parental burnout construct) than parents included 2 years earlier. However, the number of children per age group, maintaining employment, and having to provide schooling at home are not variables that explain differences in the level of parental burnout between our two samples. Our results are discussed with regard to the risk factors identified and the French context.
BrooksS. K.WebsterR. K.SmithL. E.WoodlandL.WesselyS.GreenbergN.RubinG. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet, 395(10227), 912-920. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8.
2.
CoyneL. W.GouldE. R.GrimaldiM.WilsonK. G.BaffutoG.BiglanA. (2020). First things first: Parent psychological flexibility and self-compassion during COVID-19. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1-7. DOI:10.1007/s40617-020-00435-w.
3.
FontanesiL.MarchettiD.MazzaC.Di GiandomenicoS. D.RomaP.VerrocchioM. C. (2020). The effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on parents: A call to adopt urgent measures. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12, 79-81. doi:10.1037/tra0000672.
4.
GérainP.ZechE. (2018). Does informal caregiving lead to parental burnout? Comparing parents having (or Not) children with mental and physical issues. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(6), 1-10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00884.
5.
GérainP.ZechE. (2019). Informal caregiver burnout? Development of a theoretical framework to understand the impact of caregiving. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(7), 1748. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01748.
6.
GriffithA. K. (2020). Parental burnout and child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Family Violence, 1-7. doi:10.1007/s10896-020-00172-2.
7.
KawamotoT.FurutaniK.AlimardaniM. (2018). Preliminary validation of Japanese version of the parental burnout inventory and its relationship with perfectionism. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 970. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00970.
8.
Le VigourouxS.ScolaC. (2018). Differences in parental burnout: Influence of demographic factors and personality of parents and children. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 887. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00887.
9.
Le VigourouxS.ScolaC.RaesM.-E.MikolajczakM.RoskamI. (2017). The big five personality traits and parental burnout: Protective and risk factors. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 216-219. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.07.023.
10.
Lebert-CharronA.DorardG.BoujutE.WendlandJ. (2018). Maternal burnout syndrome: Contextual and psychological associated factors. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(6), 885. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00885.
11.
MikolajczakM.BriandaM. E.AvalosseH.RoskamI. (2018). Consequences of parental burnout: Its specific effect on child neglect and violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 80, 134-145. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.03.025.
12.
MikolajczakM.GrossJ. J.RoskamI. (2019). Parental burnout: What is it, and why does it matter?Clinical Psychological Science, 7(6), 1319-1329. doi:10.1177/2167702619858430.
13.
MikolajczakM.GrossJ. J.StinglhamberF.Lindahl NorbergA.RoskamI. (2020). Is parental burnout distinct from job burnout and depressive symptoms?Clinical Psychological Science, 8(4), 673-689. doi:10.1177/2167702620917447.
14.
MikolajczakM.RaesM.-E.AvalosseH.RoskamI. (2017). Exhausted parents: Sociodemographic, child-related, parent-related, parenting and family-functioning correlates of parental burnout. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(10), 1-13. doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0892-4.
15.
MikolajczakM.RoskamI. (2018). A theoretical and clinical framework for parental burnout: The balance between risks and resources (BR2). Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 886. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00886.
16.
RoskamI.BriandaM.-E.MikolajczakM. (2018). A step forward in the conceptualization and measurement of parental burnout: The parental burnout assessment (PBA). Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 758. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00758.
17.
RoskamI.RaesM. E.MikolajczakM. (2017). Exhausted parents: Development and preliminary validation of the parental burnout inventory. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 163. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00163.
18.
Sánchez-RodríguezR.CallahanS.SéjournéN. (2018). L’épuisement des mères de jeunes enfants: Une étude exploratoire. Journal de Therapie Comportementale et Cognitive, 28(2), 72-79. doi:10.1016/j.jtcc.2017.12.002.
19.
Sánchez-RodríguezR.PerierS.CallahanS.SéjournéN. (2019). Revue de la littérature relative au burnout parental. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 60(2), 77-89. doi:10.1037/cap0000168.
20.
SorkkilaM.AunolaK. (2020). Risk factors for parental burnout among Finnish parents: The role of socially prescribed perfectionism. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(3), 648-659. doi:10.1007/s10826-019-01607-1.
21.
SyazwaniA. M.IyliaM.IsmailH.NurulI. Y. (2020). Working parents and emotionally parental burnout during malaysia movement control order (Mco). European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(2), 4930-4953.
