Profiles and age-related differences in the expression of the three parental burnout dimensions

International audienceParental burnout is a syndrome that can be defined along three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, emotional distancing from children, and lack of parental accomplishment. The aim of the present study was to highlight the contribution of children’s mean age to profiles of parental burnout. To this end, the Parental Burnout Inventory was administered via an online questionnaire to 2160 French-speaking parents. Results revealed five profiles corresponding to different levels of intensity of each parental burnout dimensions: not in parental burnout, low risk of parental burnout, inefficient, exhausted, and burned out. Parents with young children were more likely to be exhausted. A network model highlighted the central role of emotional distancing in the emergence of parental burnout in exhausted parents. These results underscore the importance of conducting campaigns to prevent parental burnout by highlighting the different profiles and especially targeting young parents of young children