Family Rituals and Quality of Life: The Mediating Role of Parental Burnout

Family rituals are meaningful interactions with benefits for individuals and families. Previous research has linked family ritual meaning with quality of life (QoL), yet the mechanisms that explain this association are not fully known. The present research examined parental burnout, an exhaustion disorder related to parenting, as a mediator in the association between family ritual meaning and QoL. Participants were 109 Portuguese married couples with at least one child up to 18. Partners individually completed the Family Ritual Questionnaire, the Parental Burnout Assessment, and the EUROHIS-QOL-8. The results showed that women attributed more meaning to family rituals and reported higher levels of parental burnout than men. Family ritual meaning was negatively associated with parental burnout and positively associated with QoL, for both partners. The mediation analysis showed that family ritual meaning was associated with QoL, directly and indirectly via parental burnout. Findings can contribute to strengthening evidence-based interventions with families.