Gender Differences in the Nature, Antecedents and Consequences of Parental Burnout

Parenthood remains one of the most gender-typed social roles in adulthood. Given gender inequality in parenting, it has been very surprising to find that parental burnout affects both mothers and fathers in equal proportion. The aim of the present study was to properly test gender effects in the nature, average level, antecedents, and consequences of parental burnout. Data were collected from a strictly matched sample of about 900 French- and English-speaking mothers and fathers. We found measurement invariance across genders and a higher average level of parental burnout among mothers than fathers. We also found the same antecedent mechanism at work in both mothers and fathers (i.e., an imbalance of risks over resources in the specific context of parenting), but fathers were seen to be more vulnerable to such imbalance in this specific area. Burnout ultimately was seen to have more detrimental consequences for fathers than for mothers. In particular, escape and suicidal ideations as well as neglectful behaviors toward children were more common in burned-out fathers than in mothers. Our findings are discussed together with considerations of the gender-role socialization process, social roles as shared norms, and the salience of parental identity in women and men.