Page 69 - IJPS-9-3

International Journal of
Population Studies COVID-19 effects on parent burnout

burnout can be explained by the fact that the study groups exhibited significantly lower levels of parent burnout
differ from each other in terms of cultural differences, compared to others. This finding is in line with the previous
sociodemographic characteristics, and pandemic studies that having marital satisfaction is a protective
experiences. factor against parent burnout (Mikolajzcak et al., 2017;
The findings showed that the burnout of parents whose Mikolajzcak et al., 2018; Parlak, 2021), and corroborated
youngest child was <5 years old was higher than that of the protective role of love and especially intimacy (Lebert-
parents whose youngest child was older than 5. This Charron et al.,2021) in the relationship with the spouse,
finding is consistent with the studies showing that parents which is crucial for mitigating the parent burnout. Studies
with young children are more burnt out (Roskam et al., showed that a good emotional relationship with the
2018) and that parents of children younger than 5 are spouse is protective against parent burnout. In addition,
more likely to be burnt out (Le Vigouroux et al., 2017). the presence of external support in childcare, provided
A plausible explanation is that young children need their by grandmothers, caregivers, etc., may play a protective
parents more in terms of care to meet their basic needs. As role against burnout. However, the inability to get help for
a child gets older, the child learns to tend to his/her own childcare from outside under restrictive conditions such as
needs. Thus, parent burnout could be reduced when the quarantine, combined with the poor parental relationship,
burden and the stress of the parents decrease and more can increase burnout. In this context, a good spousal
time is allocated to the parents themselves. In addition, the relationship offers protection from parent burnout.
findings showed that there was no difference in burnout Furthermore, this study found that the parents who
between those whose children were all girls or all boys and worked and did not work in a paid job did not differ in
those who had both boys and girls. The result that the level terms of burnout. Similarly, although there are studies
of parent burnout does not differ according to the gender of showing that working status is not associated with burnout
the children is consistent with the literature (Yönel, 2021). (Kawamoto et al., 2018; Le Vigouroux & Scola 2018),
Our finding that parents who spend more time with being unemployed is associated with parent burnout.
their children succumbed to higher level of burnout is There are studies showing that non-working parents
contrary to the finding by Arıkan et al. (2020), suggesting experience higher levels of parent burnout (Mikolajczak
that the two variables were not related. The inconsistency et al., 2020; Sorkkila & Aunola, 2020) and that it is an
may be due to the fact that the present study was conducted important predictor of maternal burnout (Lebert-Charron
during a pandemic where the quality of the time spent with et al., 2018). In addition, those who work full-time in
children changed significantly because the parents had to the workplace reported lower levels of burnout than
deal with both home education, working from home, and others. This finding is consistent with studies showing
housework during the time they stayed at home and spent that mothers who work full-time are less burnt out than
with children (Bastiaansen et al., 2021). mothers who work part-time (Mikolajczak et al., 2020;
Lebert-Charron et al., 2018). In addition, our results
Consistent with several studies, the present study also showed that those working for 9 h or more per day
pinpointed that the level of parent burnout does not reported a lower level of burnout. When these findings
differ according to education level (Arıkan et al., 2020; are evaluated together with the finding that the burnout
Le Vigoroux & Scola, 2018). Nevertheless, education level levels of the working and non-working participants do not
of parent seems to affect the burnout level. For instance, differ, the increase in the time spent at home, rather than
Bastiaansen et al. (2021) found that highly educated the working status during the pandemic, may be related to
parents are more exhausted; this finding is however in the elevated burnout levels. In addition, working and living
conflict with the study by Sodi et al. (2020), which regards conditions at home during the COVID-19 can also have a
higher education level as a protective factor against significant impact on burnout. A pre-pandemic study on
burnout. The lack of consistency in the findings among work-family-life balance and burnout in women found
these studies on the relationship between educational that women’s burnout may explain the inability of working
status and parent burnout can be explained by the fact women to establish a work-life balance and to spare time
that the study groups differ from each other in terms of for themselves, the disproportionately greater effort they
cultural differences, sociodemographic characteristics, and invest to achieve the balance, and the negative effects of
pandemic experiences. For the present study group, it is their work on family life (Umutlu, 2021). The rate of people
evident that burnout in the COVID-19 period occurred working from home was very low before the pandemic but
independently of education level. increased dramatically for both women and men during
Our finding also showed that parents who rated their the pandemic (Farré et al., 2020). Considering that it is
emotional relationship with their partners as excellent difficult to achieve a work-family-life balance even under

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 63 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.387