COVID-19 and Parental Burnout Levels

Joy Shen and Macarena Kruger

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant shifts in people’s everyday lives (Brown et al., 2020; Prime et al., 2020). Social restrictions and business downfalls negatively impacted adults’ and children’s mental health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). Indeed, many adults lost their jobs (Karpman et al., 2020; Nicola et al., 2020), and almost all children globally transitioned to online learning (Golberstein et al., 2020). With athese transitions, many parents needed to take on a new role of teacher or school facilitator for their children at home (Prime et al., 2020). These added roles and responsibilities might have increased parental burnout levels. While parental stress is common and not usually detrimental to parents’ well-being (Griffith, 2020), burnout is indicated by extreme exhaustion, a feeling of distance from the family structure or child (e.g., being less responsive to their child or emotionally disengaged), and a sense of inadequacy or ineffectiveness in their parenting role (Griffith, 2020; Mikolajczak et al., 2018; Roskam et al., 2017). Extant research on parenting and burnout has examined emotional burnout in parents (e.g., Le Vigouroux et al., 2017; Mikolajczak et al., 2018), including in parents who homeschool their children (e.g., Lois, 2006). However, less is known about whether this burnout is different amongst caregivers who were forced to adopt teaching roles at home. Further, given the recency of COVID-19, research has not yet fully examined the effects of the pandemic on parenting. There are a few studies that have examined the pandemic in relation to higher parental stress levels and an increase in child maltreatment rates (e.g., Brown et al., 2020; Campbell, 2020). However, they fail to acknowledge other parental mental health aspects, such as burnout levels, as a result of the pandemic.

Parental Burnout in Parents With Young Children

Parental burnout is a significant problem, because it leads to sleep difficulties, marital conflict, and child rearing practices that could have a detrimental impact on children’s development (Mikolajczak et al., 2018). Specifically in the United States, parental burnout rates are alarming; approximately 3.5 million parents experience burnout (Mikolajczak et al., 2019). Children’s ages and the number of children in the household are key factors that play a role in parental burnout levels (Le Vigouroux & Scola, 2018). Indeed, young children (i.e., from birth to 6 years old) require more supervision and attention from their parents compared with their older counterparts (Le Vigouroux & Scola, 2018; Mikolajczak et al., 2018). For instance, parents play a key role in their young children’s development of healthy habits (e.g., limited time watching TV), as well as in the promotion of practices that foster childrens’ early skills (e.g., book reading; Olson et al., 2004).

In addition to factors at home, burnout levels may be impacted by external circumstances, such as unexpected events (Le Vigouroux et al. 2017) and social expectations for raising young children (Borelli et al., 2017; Meeussen & Van Laar, 2018; Roskam et al., 2017). For example, due to women’s increasing participation in the workplace, it may be harder for mothers to attend to their children’s demands, and these difficulties might be compounded by the social pressure that is placed on parents, specifically on mothers to be warm, present, and engaged (Meeussen & Van Laar, 2018; Roskam et al., 2017). Accordingly, mothers tend to experience greater parental burnout levels than fathers. Furthermore, parents’ socioeconomic status and their financial positions play a key role (Sorkkila & Aunola, 2020), especially when dealing with unexpected financial responsibilities (e.g., increase in rent and/or medical bills). If parents are not financially stable, finances become a constant stressor, and prolonged exposure to stressors leads to burnout (Lebert-Charron et al., 2018; Meeussen & Van Laar, 2018; Roskam & Mikolajczak, 2020).

Despite all the challenges that parents face, there are also protective factors which prevent parents from experiencing the negative effects of potential high stress (Sorkkila & Aunola, 2020). One of the most beneficial protective factors is to make time for self-care practices (e.g., practice self-compassion and self-acceptance; Sorkkila & Aunola, 2020). Another effective strategy is to perceive control over challenging situations, which consequently helps parents develop higher emotion regulation to cope with burnout (Brown et al., 2020; Dijkstra & Homan, 2016). In terms of family support, parental agreement when parenting children has also shown to help minimize the effects of burnout (Gérain & Zech, 2018; Mikolajczak et al., 2018).

Homeschooling, COVID-19, and Burnout

Parents who homeschool their children face unique challenges with balancing roles, and, thus, tend to experience greater burnout levels (Baker, 2019). Both their teaching and parenting roles are psychologically, physically, and cognitively demanding (Boyle et al., 1995; Friedman, 2003). Parents who take on the role of an educator at home may experience role strain, a common factor leading to burnout (Baker, 2019; Lois, 2006). Role strain may be exacerbated by role ambiguity (i.e., uncertainty about the expectations of a role) or role conflict (i.e., when there are multiple roles to fill, and they interfere with one another; Lois, 2006; Papastylianou et al., 2009). Juggling a career alongside parenting and teaching might contribute to even greater role strain (Green & Hoover-Dempsey, 2007). These role strains are often exacerbated if parents lack adequate resources and/or social support (Friedman, 2003; Lois, 2006). Many parents, even former school teachers who end up in a homeschooling role, feel a sense of inadequacy or insecurity surrounding their abilities to teach, causing more stress and exhaustion (Brissie et al., 1988; Friedman, 2003; Lois, 2006; Papastylianou et al., 2009). This sense of inadequacy is often exacerbated due to parents’ deep emotional commitment to the children, especially if their child lacks motivation or is failing to meet expectations (Baker, 2019; Lois, 2006).

Most research on homeschooling has focused on parents who made the decision to transition to homeschooling due to religious, moral or protective reasons; less is understood about parents who are forced to take on a similar role (Baker, 2019). The COVID-19 outbreak led many parents to take on homeschooling roles due to the closing of schools and transition to remote learning (“COVID-19 Educational Disruption,” 2020). While children continued to  follow curricula set by their teachers at school, young children needed their parents to aid them in the unfamiliar online learning format. This transition not only altered children’s everyday lives, but also family dynamics as a whole, and especially the role of parents at home (Brown et al., 2020). Research shows that parents in the U.S. reported to be more stressed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with their non-parent counterparts and have attributed their main stressors to their parenting roles and transition to online learning (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020). Over the course of the pandemic, parents have reported having less emotional support and higher levels of stress due to financial struggles and health concerns leading to increased parental burnout (Center for Translational Neuroscience, 2020). Although, to date, there has been very little research surrounding the pandemic and its mental health implications, many parents have expressed this sense of stress and burnout through mediums like social media and popular journals. For example, Grose (2020) conducted an interview for The New York Times with Paige Posladek, a pregnant woman and mother of two children who are two and four years old. Posladek explained a sense of stagnancy and a failure to move forward because she feels overwhelmed and does not have time for herself. One of the few studies addressing parental burnout during COVID-19 (Mousavi, 2020) found that other parents are experiencing higher levels of parental burnout citing new stressors such as uncertainty, lack of control, and helplessness, confirming anecdotal evidence from parents with young children.

Current Study

Parental burnout is a feeling of extreme exhaustion due to high levels of stress and a mismatch between responsibilities and available resources, which includes a sense of disconnection with parents’ family and/or children (Griffith, 2020; Mikolajczak et al., 2018; Roskam et al., 2017). Past research has found that parenting young children can be very rewarding, yet challenging at times (Le Vigouroux et al. 2017; Mikolajczak et al., 2018), with additional difficulties on parents who homeschool their children (Baker, 2019). Research on the recent COVID-19 pandemic has begun to shed light on changing family routines and increased stress (“COVID-19 Educational Disruption”, 2020; Grose, 2020). However, little is known about the effect of a teaching role at home on burnout for parents who are forced to take on this role. Furthermore, minimal work has focused on the relation between COVID-19 and parental burnout levels. Thus, this study aimed to fill these gaps through the following research question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted burnout in parents with young children?

Method

Participants

Ten parents of young children in New York City were interviewed (N = 10) via Zoom. Nine participants identified as cis-women, and one identified as cis-man. Most of them (N = 8) identified as White, whereas one participant identified as Hispanic or Latino and one participant identified as Black or African American. Parents’ ages ranged from 29 to 43 years old. All parents were married except for one who was divorced. All of them reported obtaining at least a Bachelor’s degree; four reported obtaining a professional or Master’s degree, and five parents reported obtaining a doctorate degree. The majority (N = 6) reported having one child and the remaining four parents reported having two children. Ten of the children were female and four were male; their ages ranged from 7 months to 10 years old (M = 3.26, SD = 2.62).

Procedure

In October and November of 2020, participants were interviewed by one of the authors via Zoom. The interview protocol was created based on findings in the extant literature; a trial interview was conducted to see which questions were relevant, and the interview questions were then revised accordingly. The interviews were semi-structured, including questions such as “In what ways did your child/children need more support or supervision for their schooling from home?” However, follow-up questions were also asked throughout the interviews for clarification. During the interviews, both the participants and the interviewers had their cameras on. All the interviews were conducted in English, and they were approximately 30-35 minutes long.

Transcription and Coding

All interviews were transcribed using Trint software. The coding scheme emerged from the data based on a grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). To establish reliability, each researcher coded the same interview, compared codes, and clarified the discrepancies. Once reliability was achieved,  each transcript was read by one of the researchers twice and coded for main themes and specific codes that emerged from the data. The interviews were coded at the turn level, such that researchers coded each time the participant spoke (i.e., each turn speaking). Although the same code could not be assigned multiple times within a turn, codes were not mutually exclusive. Therefore, if a statement within one turn qualified for multiple codes, researchers double coded them. This decision was made in order to capture participants’ experiences in a nuanced way.

Final Codes

From the conducted interviews, two main themes emerged that gave insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected burnout in parents. Although none of the parents in our sample experienced burnout in accordance with the definition, most of them experienced added stress. We will explore two themes that emerged: (a) contributors and (b) preventative factors to stress. Within those themes, specific codes (i.e., stressors, social support, roles, silver linings, self care, childcare) were developed and analyzed. See Table 1 for specific codes and definitions.

Results

Contributors

Results show variability among each participant’s experiences. Nevertheless, the “stressors” theme emerged in all ten interviews. All participants mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought additional stressors into their lives. Within this main theme, work/schooling, time management, and parenting were the most prevalent sources of stress.

Work and schooling. ‘Work/schooling’ came up 32 times across all the interviews. Four participants stated how they had more responsibilities and more things to do since COVID-19 hit. They were doing most of the household tasks “and then also school work, getting things done, making sure that I’m on top of everything, and I am on track, and everything… it’s hard sometimes.” In addition, two participants mentioned how they have always been overwhelmed due to workload, but how now it was even more stressful: “My work day is never sufficient, and that’s always the case. Now it’s worse…” and “so I felt like work became busier.”

Time management. Often co-occurring with work and school stress, “time management” stress came up 29 times. Most parents were very explicit when they talked about problems with time management, with statements such as “you know, it’s hard to manage time: home work, teaching and lots of meetings. It’s like this the whole week.” Along these lines, some parents reported being exhausted due to the great amount of energy they invest in their responsibilities. One mother referred to it as follows: “at the end of the week you’re like, wow, how did I actually survive that week?” In addition, two of them specifically talked about how their schedules were shaped based on their children’s needs. One of them said that her “workday was extended and sort of built around her [daughter’s] schedule.” Another mother explained what a typical day looks like for her: “I wake up at 7:00 and I prepare everything that [my daughter] needs to be able to do work at home. So that means creating a schedule, a reminder, so she has a little notepad that I put down to remind her when she has Zoom meetings…” which takes a lot of time.

Increase in parenting. Finally, “an increase in parenting stress” came up 22 times. All participants except one brought up this idea. They mentioned that spending most of the time with their children at home was challenging. Parenting sometimes interferes with their work and with their professional responsibilities because now “there’s lots of different disruptions.” For example, one of the mothers talked about how when she “was in meetings particularly, there was a push and pull. My daughter… doesn’t quite understand that when I’m working, I can’t be entertaining her.” Another parent mentioned how irritating it was to ask her child about her homework and getting a response such as “I don’t want to do it, I’m only doing it because I have to,” causing tension in their parent-child relationship.

Roles. The second most prevalent theme after stress was “roles.” Within this theme, the two most prevalent specific codes were “more roles” and “took on a teacher role.” For instance, eight out of the ten participants reported taking ‘more roles’ as a result of the pandemic. One of them mentioned that he was “working, making dinner and taking care of the three year old who needs attention.” The specific code called ‘took on a teacher role’ was also a trend among parents’ responses. Fifty percent of the participants reported taking on a teacher role, and it came up 11 times across those five interviews. The only father participating in this study said that he felt an additional burden because he now listens to his daughter’s Zoom classes, so that if her daughter did not understand something, he could help her based on what the teacher said. So he was “teaching now” and that “a lot of the teaching is falling on [him].” Most parents talked about how they struggled when their children needed to do homework, and how “that kind of negotiation adds stress.” Parents whose children had not yet entered the school system, also reported that their children’s education and development are main stressors. For instance, one mother who has a toddler was worried about the lack of social interactions her daughter had, and expressed the following: “I worry about her social isolation… not really knowing, you know, how to engage with other kids her age, so I do not know if I should have her in like half day programs.” Only three parents reported experiencing the specific code called ‘role ambiguity’.

Preventative factors

Financial stability. In addition to adjusting to the pandemic over time, many parents discussed several factors that helped them cope with and prevent burnout even during the early transition. For parents participating in the current study, one major factor that helped to prevent burnout was financial stability. Out of the ten participants, eight had obtained a graduate degree (either master’s or doctorate). During the interviews, no parent had reported stressors stemming from financial instability or loss of occupation, and some even explained that their incomes had not changed, allowing them to either move to a larger home, or continue to pay for childcare. In realizing the difficulties in living in a small apartment, one participant reported that her family “moved to New Jersey over the summer because [they] needed more space,” a larger home where her children would have space to do schoolwork while she worked from home. Moving to a larger space allowed for this family to have more privacy for work and combat some of the stressors of working from home. This ability to move reflected how good financial standing could prevent stressors for some families during COVID-19.

Silver linings. Changes in parents’ schedules and work was another helpful factor. Within the “silver lining” theme, one of the most commonly cited codes was the lack of commuting. In describing their routines pre-COVID, several parents noted that a main stressor during those months was due to their commute to and from work. One parent reported, “the most stressful part… was the commute… it takes me about two hours, one way to get to [work].” Fifty percent of the sample used the lack of a commute as an example for any decrease in stress levels. So while all of the participants discussed increased stress levels due to parenting and time management, this aspect of stress from pre-COVID was no longer there.

Social support. Lastly, one last preventative factor that helped parents cope with the increased stress due to COVID-19 was social support. Seven out of ten of our participants reported an increase in social support, despite the fact that they were not able to see people in person anymore, because frequent Zoom calling or FaceTiming friends and family led to more contact. One participant stated, “I feel like in a lot of ways, FaceTime has allowed for more intimate connections with supporters… [Before], we would not call that much. We would text a lot. And now we FaceTime. Much more than we ever called each other.” Another participant noted the increase of contact by stating, “So we’re able to talk to [family] more and face time with them more because everyone’s home, whereas before we never really were able to.” Through these reports, it was clear that many participants felt that they had support from family, friends and colleagues because everyone was experiencing the pandemic, leading to a “we’re all in this together” mentality.

Discussion

The present qualitative study examined the impact of COVID-19 on parental burnout levels. Existing literature indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unexpected changes (Prime et al., 2020) and significant stress in 2020 (Klaiber et al., 2020). In line with these findings, the current study showed that many parents experienced an increase in parenting stress caused by taking on more roles at home, increased work stress, and less time. Yet, although most research, to date, examining COVID-19 and family-related factors only report negative implications (e.g., Brown et al., 2020; Power, 2020; Russell et al., 2020), this study also found positive outcomes of the pandemic. These included a lack of commuting, which was a source of stress pre-COVID-19, as well as increased social support due to the immediacy of technology and video calls.

Based on the operationalization of parental burnout proposed in past research (e.g.,  Griffith, 2020; Mikolajczak & Roskam, 2020; Roskam et al.,2017), parents in this particular sample did not experience high parental burnout levels in the aftermath of the pandemic. Parents reported experiencing more stress compared to their pre-COVID-19 stress levels and having a general feeling of exhaustion in some cases, but none of them reported experiencing a feeling of distance from their family structure and/or children. Rather, one parent explicitly mentioned how he is trying to emotionally support his daughter as much as possible, while others even reported feeling closer to their children. Furthermore, none reported a sense of ineffectiveness in their parenting role or experiencing role ambiguity. Thus, although certain symptoms of parental burnout such as increased stress were experienced, no parent reported facing all aspects of parental burnout.

Past research suggests that protective factors such as financial stability (Sorkkila & Aunola, 2020) and social support (Gérain & Zech, 2018; Mikolajczak et al., 2018) might help prevent parents from experiencing high burnout levels. In the current study, all participants had at least a Bachelor’s degree, and all of them reported having a stable job or a spouse with a stable job. Financial stability and income typically also come with health insurance, and access to safe housing and transportation, all crucial elements to navigating a pandemic. During this time, many businesses closed down and many people were laid off from their jobs, creating financial instability and turmoil for many families (Karpman et al., 2020; Nicola et al., 2020). Anecdotal reports of extreme exhaustion and parental burnout in the media came from families who were struggling financially to support their families during the pandemic, on top of all of the stressors the participants in this study experienced (“COVID-19 Educational Disruption”, 2020; Gross, 2020). Indeed, participants in the current study did not report financial instability or marital conflict, and thus, they relied on those protective factors. 

Another discrepancy between past research and the current findings is that previous studies suggest that parents who have less time for themselves, as well as less time to meet their responsibilities, tend to experience higher parental burnout levels (e.g., Griffith, 2020; Mikolajczak et al., 2019). Nevertheless, participants did not report this to be the case. All of the participants expressed concerns regarding time management, as well as having less time to engage in self-care practices. However, they did not meet all the parental burnout criteria, according to the definition of parental burnout that was adopted for the purpose of this study.

Findings of the current study should be interpreted with caution, as this qualitative investigation was a limited exploration of ten participants. Future research should explore this area of study using a qualitative approach with a larger sample size or using quantitative measures to investigate levels of burnout over time in the aftermath of the pandemic. Moreover, incorporating quantitative measures, such as the MBI or the Parental Burnout Assessment, might be more objective ways of capturing this variable, and might allow for the inclusion of larger samples (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Roskam et al., 2018). Furthermore, due to convenience sampling, the sample was rather homogenous, as it included mostly white, highly educated, financially stable mothers, and, therefore, was not able to provide information on a variety of parents living through the pandemic. Because there was only one father, researchers were unable to gain a comprehensive understanding of gender roles in parental burnout due to COVID-19. The sample was all relatively high SES, as well, which is not representative of the population at large. Although this information helped in understanding factors contributing to or protecting against stress, it did not describe the struggles middle class and low income families might be experiencing during this difficult time. Despite these limitations, however, the current study provides valuable insight into the impact of COVID-19 on parental mental health through a preliminary investigation of how parents are coping and managing with young kids in the house.

Findings show that protective factors have the ability to prevent parents of young children from experiencing high burnout levels (Le Vigouroux et al., 2017). Parents reported high stress and anxiety levels due to external and unexpected circumstances like COVID-19 (Le Vigouroux et al., 2017). However, results demonstrate the importance of social support and economic stability in preventing stress and inform policy to prevent disproportionate levels of burnout in parents based on family income and access to resources. Despite being able to afford childcare, some parents participating in this study still commented that it was expensive. Thus, this study provides evidence for policymakers to incorporate more accessible childcare policies in New York City. This study also lays the foundations for future research to investigate the negative long term repercussions of high parental stress not only on parents but also on their children. For instance, future longitudinal research should examine the relation between children who had parents with high levels of stress and future personality disorders during adolescence. Although more studies are required to further explore this field, qualitative research like the present study is a first step to inform researchers and practitioners of the issues that families face during unprecedented times.

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