Are all Burned Out Parents Neglectful and Violent? A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Exposure to chronic parental stress can lead to parental burnout, a syndrome encompassing three dimensions: an overwhelming exhaustion from one’s parental role, an emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of parental ineffectiveness. The first goal of this study was to examine whether there were different profiles of parents based on their levels of exhaustion, emotional distancing, and inefficacy. The second goal was to investigate the association between these profiles and different forms of neglect and violence toward children (i.e., physical neglect, emotional neglect, physical violence, and verbal violence). 2767 parents who had at least one child living at home completed the survey. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to analyze the data. LPA identified five profiles of parents (“Not in parental burnout”, “Inefficient”, “At risk of parental burnout”, “Emotionally exhausted and distant”, and “Burned out parents”), which were associated with different levels and forms of neglect and violence. Profiles in which high levels of exhaustion were associated with high levels of emotional distancing showed much higher levels of neglect and violence. Results also show that physical violence remains lower than the other forms of violence or neglect. The results first suggest that exhausted parents need to be diagnosed and cared for before exhaustion leads to emotional distancing. They also suggest that burned out parents inhibit physical violence more than the other forms of violence and neglect.