A new, multiple-country survey has shown that ‘parental burnout’ may be the worst in the US, and they may have an idea why. Parental burnout is a large issue that affects parents all over the country and the world. The burden of parenting can be all-consuming, and it is easy for a mom to get completely exhausted and feel like she cannot do another day of caring for her children and her home. This means that her needs likely get placed on the back burner, and this is a quick and easy recipe to get completely burnt out.

According to Science Alert, a new study has shown that parental burnout in the US is among the highest in the world. The research team was led by UCLouvain in Belgium and it can be read in full here. It involved surveys of over 17,000 parents from 42 different countries.

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It is important to note that these surveys were completed before the pandemic began, so it was in what would be considered “normal” parenting conditions. Parents were asked about their parenting burnout by looking at their emotional exhaustion, emotional distance from their children, loss of pleasure in being a parent, and a noticed difference in their old style of parenting.

The results showed that there was a great deal of difference in parental burnout among countries, with the US ranking as one of the highest countries for parental burnout. That is because they found a direct link between the importance placed on individualism and parental burnout. Western countries typically placed higher importance on individualism, that is who you are as a person. These same countries experienced the highest rates of parental burnout, typically because they may feel like they have “lost themselves” in parenthood and no longer have an identity.

Countries that didn’t have such a high societal view on individualism did not have the same high rates of parental burnout. They typically see themselves as not just an individual, but as part of a system that all works together. Belgium scored the highest when it came to parental burnout, at 8.1% of parents. However, the US came right in second, with 7.9% of parents feeling burnout. When they looked at the countries that had the lowest rates of burnout, they found that South American, African and Asian countries all had the lowest. Researchers are hypothetically stating that there are likely cultural differences that explain a lot of the rates, but that they would need further studies to prove that. Mom's mental health is an important component of parenting, and it is important that it is nurtured to try and avoid parental burnout.

Sources: Science Alert, Springer Link