The Imperative of Excellence in Parental Role as a Predictor of Parental Burnout

Abstract

Research on successful parenting adaptation is growing, but the role of perfectionism in parenting in the adaptation of parents to their parental role and in parental burnout has not yet been sufficiently clarified. In parenting, perfectionism manifests itself in the parents’ tendency to set exceptionally high performance standards, accompanied by pronounced self-criticism and an excessive motivation to be perfect parents. Some parents set high standards in caring for their children (Snell et al., 2005), while others focus on their children, expecting perfection from them (Piotrowski, 2020). The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of socio-demographic variables (age of parents, education, material status of the family, age and number of children) and different forms of perfectionism in parenting (self-oriented perfectionism, perfectionistic concerns and child-oriented perfectionism) to the explanation of parental burnout. The data were collected from a sample of 140 mothers with an average age of 36 years (M = 35.66, SD = 4.68) who have children in the childhood period (M = 6.12, SD = 3.03). The result of the hierarchical regression analysis shows that significant predictors of parental burnout are child-oriented perfectionism (discrepancy) and perfectionistic concerns. The pronounced gap between parental expectations and children’s achievements as well as perfectionistic concerns, which reflect an increased worry about mistakes and doubts about one’s own parenting practices, contribute significantly to the explanation of maternal parental burnout.