Feminist ethics of care and parental burnout: Does coparenting matter for parents of infants?

Abstract Objective The goal was to assess the main and moderating effects of parenting perfectionism, feelings of judgement in the parental role, and coparenting relationship quality on parental burnout (PB). Background PB is an intense form of parenting stress that impacts parents' well‐being, parenting practices, and child functioning. Theoretically, PB is driven by an imbalance between stressors and resources, and empirical work shows PB is more common in individualistic cultures. However, PB is understudied among parents of infants, and in the United States, where intensive parenting is encouraged and moralized. Method One hundred twenty‐eight partnered parents (mostly White; 52.3% women, M age = 31.91 years) with infants aged 3–12 months reported on PB, parenting perfectionism, coparenting quality, and feelings of judgement in the parental role via an online survey. Multiple regression models addressed research objectives. Results Feelings of judgement were significantly, positively associated with PB. Moderation analyses showed greater parenting perfectionism was significantly associated with higher PB only for parents who reported lower coparenting relationship quality. Conclusion A positive coparenting relationship may offer parents multiple resources to help manage and prevent PB. Implications Clinicians and family life educators can strengthen the coparenting relationship to build resilience among parents of infants. Toward feminist praxis, policies like paid parental leave seem necessary to shift the cultural narrative around caregiving.