Does Informal Caregiving Lead to Parental Burnout? Comparing Parents Having (or Not) Children With Mental and Physical Issues

Abstract

Introduction: Parenting a child with special needs (CSN) may be an important challenge. Previous research has highlighted an increased risk of parental burnout among parents caring for their CSN. Yet, these studies only focused on children with specific issues and did not consider the wide variety of CSN. There is thus a need to take a more global approach to assessing the impact of caring for a CSN on parental burnout. In addition, the impact on parental burnout of personality and parenting (dis)agreement needs to be measured to have a better understanding of parent-caregivers' (PCgs) burnout. Method: An online survey was completed by a large sample of parents from which a subsample of PCgs was identified. Results:T-tests highlighted significantly more parental burnout among parents of CSN. However, further analyses showed that parents with only one child with one special need did not experience significantly more burnout than parents with typical children. The significant difference lay in the presence of comorbidity or the presence of multiple CSN in the family. Hierarchical regressions showed an important impact of Neuroticism for every burnout facet, along with co-parenting (dis)agreement. Subjective consequences of having to care for a CSN were also related to the burnout facets of both emotional exhaustion and emotional distancing. Discussion: The presence of comorbidity and of multiple CSN in the family were related to more PCg burnout, emphasizing the need to consider these situations in further research. The role of neuroticism in PCg burnout confirms previous research both in parental and professional contexts. Parenting (dis)agreement also highlights the importance of dyadic support among parents. Finally, the importance of subjective aspects suggests that parental perception of their situation remains a central element in understanding the consequences of caregiving.

Keywords: burnout; children; exhaustion; family caregiver; informal caregiver; parent; personality; special needs.