Parenting is an all-consuming, life-long commitment, and two-thirds of working-class parents are exhausted. It is a nearly impossible lifestyle, to work full-time and be a parent full-time, so in some cases the parent either quits their job or has little or no time for their children. As a result, what is known as “working parental burnout” occurs.
Dr. Puja Agarwal, a neurologist, defined parental burnout as the mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that results from the chronic stress of parenting. In this context, mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion is caused by the chronic stress of work and parenting.
Working parental burnout has a variety of negative mental consequences, including anxiety and depression. But this condition can be temporary, and a good diet is one method of coping with it.
But there is a link between diet and burnout, and working parents can incorporate some tips into their daily lives to alleviate burnout and its symptoms.
Study Suggests 2/3 of Parents Experience Burnout
As a working parent, burnout is almost unavoidable because every parent needs a stable job to maintain, care for, and manage a home.
However, according to researcher Dr. Moira Mikolajczak (2019 & 2020), research shows that parental burnout is detrimental and can cause desertion and suicidal ideation more frequently than depression. Notably, the negative impact of burnout is widespread.
From a survey conducted from January to April of 2021, the Ohio State University Office of the Chief Wellness Officer and College of Nursing released a report on burnout’s impact on working parents and their children. According to the study, 66 percent (or two-thirds) of working parents experience burnout. Female gender, the number of children living in the home, parental anxiety, having children diagnosed with either anxiety or ADHD, and parental concern that their children may have an undiagnosed mental health disorder are the strongest associations with working parental burnout.
Another finding based on parental self-reporting is that working parent burnout is strongly related to their children’s internalizing, externalizing, and attention behaviors. Sadness, excessive worrying, feeling down, and other negative emotions are internalizing behaviors. Externalizing and attention behaviors include varying concentration, frequent distraction, inability to sit still, disobeying rules, and teasing and fighting with other children. All of these behaviors are linked to the prevalence of working parent burnout.
While these findings show that two-thirds of working parents experience burnout, it is essential to note that everyone can experience burnout to varying degrees depending on personal circumstances and other factors. Most studies on working parental burnout show that mothers burn out more than fathers.