Page 62 - IJPS-9-3

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Parent burnout in the COVID-19 pandemic: In

the context of personality traits, perfectionism,
and demographic variables

3
Elif Yöyen *, Zeynep Betül Topçu , Tülay Barış , and Ayşe Bahar Duyar 1
1
2
1 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Esentepe Campus, Sakarya
University, Sakarya/Türkiye
2 Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Social Sciences, Maltepe University, İstanbul/
Türkiye
3 Department of Health Institutions Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Esentepe
Campus, Sakarya University, Sakarya/Türkiye

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the burnout levels of parents during the
COVID-19 pandemic within the framework of personality traits, perfectionism,
and demographic variables. Data were derived from Personal Information Form,
International Personality Inventory Short Version, the Big Three Perfectionism
Scale–Short Form, and Parent Burnout Assessment. In total, 584 parents (333 mothers,
251 fathers, M age = 39.93; SD = 6.33) living in Türkiye during COVID-19 lockdown
participated in the survey. Results showed that the level of parent burnout differs
*Corresponding author: according to the parent’s gender, the child’s age, the time spent with the child, the
Elif Yöyen perception of the emotional relationship with the spouse, and the work form during
(elifyoyen@sakarya.edu.tr) the pandemic. Personality differences in parent burnout were explored according
Citation: Yöyen, E., Topçu, Z.B., to the Five Factor Theory of Personality. A high level of neuroticism, a high level of
Barış, T. & Duyar, A.B. (2023). introversion, and a low level of conscientiousness were found to be risk factors for
Parent burnout in the COVID-19
pandemic: In the context of parent burnout. Results indicated that parent burnout is also positively related to
personality traits, perfectionism, perfectionism, in particular self-critical perfectionism, and does not differ according
and demographic variables. to parents’ COVID-19 experiences. This study provides some useful information and
International Journal of Population
Studies, 9(3): 56-68. guidelines for mental health professionals in preventive and therapeutic practices for
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.387 parent burnout that may have negative effects on parents, children, and families. It is
Received: October 7, 2022 also a rare study that included the representation of fathers in the context of parent
burnout.
Accepted: September 15, 2023
Published Online: October 26, 2023
Keywords: COVID-19; Parent burnout; Five-factor theory of personality; Personality traits;
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). Perfectionism
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected the health
Publisher’s Note: AccScience and well-being of millions of people around the world, resulting in significant loss of life
Publishing remains neutral with (Barboza et al., 2021). Studies around the world and in Türkiye show that people have
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional experienced various psychological problems such as depression (Ettman et al., 2020;
affiliations. Liu et al., 2020; Özdin & Bayrak Özdin, 2020), post-traumatic stress disorder (Liu et al.,

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 56 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.387