Parenting stress spirals and a gendered labour division over the Christmas holidays

Abstract The Christmas period heightens parental demands and invisible labour, yet little is known about how these processes unfold in daily life. This study used experience sampling data from 293 UK parents over 35 days to examine temporal associations between cognitive labour, emotion suppression, and subjective stress across the holiday season. Dynamic Structural Equation Modelling revealed strong autoregressive stability for all constructs and reciprocal moment-to-moment links between cognitive labour and stress, indicating a self-reinforcing cycle. Cognitive labour and stress also predicted subsequent emotion suppression, suggesting that emotion suppression operates as a situational coping response to mental and stress overload. At the between-person level, social support reduced emotion suppression but did not buffer stress or cognitive labour. Gender differences emerged only for cognitive labour, with mothers reporting higher levels than fathers. Findings highlight the dynamic interplay between invisible labour and stress and underscore the psychological strains parents face during the holidays.