The Relationship between Parental Emotion Regulation Ability and Parental Burnout

This study investigated the association between parents' emotion regulation ability and parental burnout. Data were gathered through an online survey administered to 461 parents from various provinces in China. The findings showed a significant negative relationship between emotion regulation and parental burnout (r = -0.139, p < 0.01), suggesting that stronger emotion regulation abilities were linked to reduced levels of burnout. Further regression analyses demonstrated that, after controlling for parental gender, education level, family income, and birth order, emotion regulation ability remained a significant negative predictor of parental burnout (β = -0.104, t = -2.236, p = 0.026). Additionally, parental gender was significantly positively correlated with parental burnout (r = 0.191, p < 0.001), with fathers reporting higher levels of burnout than mothers. These results underscore the importance of emotion regulation as a key psychological resource in reducing parenting stress and preventing parental burnout. Future studies should employ longitudinal approaches, utilize multi-source assessment methods, and include culturally diverse samples to enhance the generalizability and robustness of these findings. Overall, this study offers theoretical support for interventions aimed at mitigating parental burnout, highlighting the value of improving emotion regulation skills as an effective strategy.