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Here, we lift the veil on an existing but long taboo phenomenon: parental burnout (PB), an exhaustion syndrome related to the parenting role. PB is caused by a perceived gap between parenting resources and demands, and has a host of serious consequences for both parents and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental burnout is a specific syndrome resulting from enduring exposure to chronic parenting stress. It encompasses three dimensions: an overwhelming exhaustion related to one’s parental role, an emotional distancing from one’s children and a sense of ineffectiveness in one’s parental role. This study aims to facilitate further identification of the consequences of parental burnout for the parents themselves, their spouses and their child(ren). In a sample of 1551 parents, we examined the relationship between parental burnout and seven possible consequences: escapism and suicidal thoughts, addictions, sleep disorders, marital conflicts, a partner estrangement mindset, and neglect and violence towards one’s child(ren). We examined (1) to what extent parental and job burnout related to each of these possible consequences and (2) whether parental burnout is specifically related to neglectful and violent behaviour towards one’s child(ren). The results suggest that parental burnout has a statistically similar effect to job burnout on addictions and sleep problems, a stronger effect on couples’ conflicts and partner estrangement mindset and a specific effect on child-related outcomes (neglect and violence) and escape and suicidal ideation. These results emphasize the importance of accurately diagnosing this syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the role of positive emotion regulation as a potential mechanism for linking trait emotional intelligence (EI) and subjective well-being (SWB). We examined whether the savouring and dampening of positive emotions mediate the relationship between trait EI and the two components of SWB: life satisfaction and subjective happiness. A sample of 254 participants completed measures of trait EI, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, and the typical use of savouring and dampening strategies. Analyses indicated that trait EI was positively correlated with the two components of SWB and savouring strategies, and negatively correlated with dampening strategies. Furthermore, savouring strategies were positively related to life satisfaction and subjective happiness, whereas dampening strategies were negatively related to life satisfaction and subjective happiness. Notably, path analyses indicated that the savouring and dampening of positive emotions partially mediated the relationship between EI and both life satisfaction and subjective happiness. The findings corroborate an important role of trait EI in promoting SWB and suggest that part of its beneficial effect reveals itself through positive emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While numerous studies document the impact of emotional intelligence on health, no study has estimated the associated economic impact. As a result, the return on investment that could be expected from investing in improving emotional intelligence is unknown, and emotional intelligence research does not always make the expected impact on public policies. In this study, we examine how profitable it would be for governments or insurances to invest in improving people's emotional intelligence (EI). 9616 members of a Mutual Benefit Society completed a measure of EI that we coupled with their healthcare expenditures. Results first show that every 1% increase in intrapersonal EI corresponds to a 1% decrease in healthcare expenditures. Findings also show that the return on investment of increasing intrapersonal EI would vary as a function of people's educational level: the lower the level of education, the higher the expected return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Emotional intelligence (EI), which refers to individual differences in the identification, understanding, expression, regulation and use of one’s own emotions and those of others, has been found to be an important predictor of individuals’ adaptation to their environment. While it is well-known that EC (as a whole) predicts important outcomes, it has often been unclear which specific competency(ies) participate(s) in a given outcome because, until recently, no measure of EI distinctly measured each of the five core emotional competencies, separately for one’s own and others’ emotions. Because this lack of information was problematic both theoretically (we do not understand the processes at stake) and practically (we cannot develop customized interventions), Brasseur et al. recently developed and validated a measure of EI [Brasseur, S., Grégoire, J., Bourdu, R., & Mikolajczak, M. (2013). The Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC): Development and Validation of a Self-Reported Measure that Fits Dimensions of Emotional Competence Theory. PLoS One 8(5), e6265.] that allows to assess emotion identification, expression, understanding, regulation and use, separately for self and others’ emotions. The current study presents a shorter version of the instrument obtained using structural equation modeling on two samples of 500 subjects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Are emotionally intelligent people sentimental? Does their greater sensitivity handicap them or are they able, as theory would expect, to experience and regulate emotions flexibly, depending on their goals? We examined this issue in organizational settings. Good managers are indeed expected to be both attuned to feelings (theirs as well as their subordinates’) and able to put them aside when needed to take tough (but necessary) decisions. Our results show that emotionally intelligent managers do make better managers, as reflected by greater managerial competencies, higher team efficiency and less stressed subordinates. Moreover, and most importantly, emotionally intelligent managers are not just nicer managers. As our results show, emotional intelligence has nothing to do with sentimentality. Actually, it is managers with low EI who have the greatest difficulties to put their emotions aside and not let them interfere when inappropriate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is increasingly recognized as a potential biological marker of psychological and physical health status. Yet, the CAR literature is replete with contradictory results: both supposedly protective and vulnerability psychosocial factors have been associated with both increased and decreased CAR. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the CAR flexibility would be a better indicator of psychological status than CAR magnitude. Forty-two men measures of happiness, perceived stress and neuroticism, and took saliva samples immediately on awakening, then at 15, 30, 45 and 60min post-awakening on three study days (i.e., Sunday, Monday and Tuesday). When considering the CAR magnitude, our effects perfectly reflect the inconsistencies previously observed in the literature (i.e., the main effects of the psychological predictors are not consistent with each other, and the effect of one predictor on a given day contradicts the effect of the same predictor on another day). However, considering the CAR flexibility leads to a fully consistent pattern: protective factors (i.e., high happiness, low stress, low neurotiscim) are associated with a flexible CAR (i.e., lower CAR during weekends compared to workdays) whereas vulnerability factors (i.e., low happiness, high stress, high neurotiscim) are associated with a stiff CAR (i.e., same magnitude during weekends and workdays). We conclude that considering the CAR flexibility (e.g., between weekends and workdays) rather than the traditional CAR magnitude might be a way to understand the apparent conflicts in the CAR literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study aimed at investigating the brain correlates of trait emotional intelligence. Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) is a constellation of emotion-related traits, capturing the extent to which people experience, attend to, identify, understand, regulate, and utilize their emotions and those of others. As previous studies have provided converging evidence that frontal asymmetries were one of the determinants of emotion dispositions and behaviors, and as observations on individuals with a high level of emotional intelligence parallel those on people with a left-sided frontal cortical asymmetry in nearly every respect, we hypothesized that the level of emotional intelligence might be associated with differential frontal activation. Results supported the hypothesis: the pattern of resting electroencephalographic (EEG) activation recorded in the frontal areas was significantly associated with emotional intelligence. Individuals with higher trait EI evidence greater resting left frontal activation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A vast amount of research has documented an association between trait emotional intelligence (El) and mental health. Several pathways could account for this relationship. First, it is possible that the association between trait El and mental health is merely an artefact of the methods and measures used (response bias pathway). Second, trait El may reduce the susceptibility to mental disorders via a succession of biological mechanisms (neuroendocrine pathway). Third, trait EL may reduce one's susceptibility to psychological disorders by minimizing mood alterations in difficult circumstances (affective pathway). This experimental study aims at documenting the third pathway. It presents three experimental studies investigating the moderating role of trait emotional intelligence (trait El) on mood deterioration following laboratory- induced stress. The incremental validity of trait El to predict mood changes over and above social desirability, alexithymia, resilience and the five-factor model of personality was also examined. Multiple regressions, performed on the three samples as well as on the combined sample (N = 196), showed that a) trait El significantly moderated the impact of the experimental stressor on subsequent mood deterioration, b) the effect held after controlling for social desirability and c) trait El had incremental validity to predict mood deterioration over and above the other predictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The construct of trait emotional intelligence [trait EI] refers to the individual differences in the perception, processing, regulation, and utilization of emotional information. Several studies have found that trait EI was a significant moderator of both subjective and neuroendocrine responses to stress. The present study explores whether trait EI also influences the anticipation of stressful events and, more specifically, how these events are appraised. Study 1 examines self-efficacy, and Study 2 considers both self-efficacy and challenge/threat appraisals. The results indicate that high trait EI individuals (1) exhibit greater self-efficacy to cope and (2) appraise the situation as a challenge rather than a threat. Several directions for future research are outlined. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The construct of trait emotional intelligence [trait EI] encompasses individual dispositions related to the perception, processing, regulation, and utilization of emotional information. These emotion-related dispositions are located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. Prior studies found that trait EI promoted the utilization of adaptive coping strategies to regulate stress. The present study examined (1) whether this effect would extend to other emotions and (2) whether the coping styles used to regulate a given emotion would mediate the effect of trait EI on the propensity to experience that particular emotion. Analyses revealed that trait EI promoted the choice of adaptive strategies not only in the case of stress, but also anger, sadness, fear, jealousy, and shame. Trait EI also promoted the use of adaptive strategies to maintain joy. We also found that high trait EI individuals’ choice of adaptive strategies to down-regulate various negative emotions and maintain positive ones explained their decreased propensity to experience these negative emotions and their increased propensity to experience positive ones. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) refers to the individual differences in the perception, processing, regulation and utilization of emotional information. Several studies have found that trait EI was a significant moderator of subjective responses (e.g., mood deterioration, emotional intensity, action tendencies, bodily sensations) to both natural and laboratory stressors. The present study aims at extending these findings by examining whether trait EI also moderates the biological (i.e., cortisol) response to stress. To this end, 56 participants were assigned to either a neutral or a stressful condition (public speech task) and psychological and cortisol reactivity were examined. Results revealed that higher trait EI scores were associated with significantly lower reactivity to stress at both psychological (i.e., mood deterioration) and biological (i.e., salivary cortisol) levels. Additional analyses revealed that trait EI had incremental validity to predict stress reactivity over and above social desirability, alexithymia and the five-factor model of personality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Numerous studies have found alexithymia to be negatively associated with psychological distress. However, the nature of such an association remains unclear and controversial. Whereas some authors consider alexithymia as a stable personality trait constituting a vulnerability factor regarding mental disorders, other authors view it as a defensive mechanism secondary to the occurrence of psychological distress. The present prospective study (12 weeks follow-up) examines the stability of alexithymia in the context of acute changes in the level of psychological distress. Contrary to most previous studies that have examined alexithymia stability after a reduction in psychological distress, this study examines alexithymia stability in the context of increase in psychological distress. Four indicators of stability were considered: absolute, mean-level, rank-order and relative stability. Although not absolutely stable, alexithymia was found to show a high degree of relative stability despite the acute increase in psychological distress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The goal of this research was to investigate the developmental process of parental burnout by testing whether there were systematic prospective relations between the dimensions of parental burnout as measured with the Parental Burnout Inventory (PBI). We investigated this question in two cross-lagged three-wave longitudinal studies with French- and English-speaking parents (N 1 = 918, 78.8% mothers, M age_mothers = 39.38, M age_fathers = 43.02; N 2 = 822, 59.2% mothers, M age_mothers = 38.68, M age_fathers = 38.02). High levels of exhaustion were found to predict increases in emotional distancing and feelings of inefficacy, which then mutually reinforce. Since emotional distancing elicits the most damaging consequences of parental burnout for children (i.e., parental neglect and violence), the current study suggests that prevention efforts will be most beneficial in the exhaustion phase of parental burnout. • Emotional exhaustion is a key symptom in parental burnout. • Emotional exhaustion is the first phase of the course of parental burnout. • Emotional exhaustion predicts increases in emotional distancing. • Emotional distancing and feelings of inefficacy mutually reinforce over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental burnout's (PB) literature has blossomed, showing that PB is a major predictor in child maltreatment. But it is unclear at what PB stage parents become violent. 1466 parents answered a pre-registered three-wave longitudinal survey. PB seems to start with exhaustion, which catalyzes the development of all other PB symptoms. There seems to be a process relating PB symptoms to violence towards the offspring: exhaustion is prospectively linked to an increase in emotional distancing and feeling fed up, which are then linked to a prospective increase in violence. Researchers would benefit from focusing more on the symptoms of PB, to increase nuance and give even more concrete suggestions for clinical practice. Clinicians should focus on reducing exhaustion as it seems to be the starting point of PB, and be alert to child maltreatment when emotional distancing or feeling fed up are mentioned. Implications are discussed. • Parental burnout is a developmental process starting with exhaustion. • There is a process linking parental burnout symptoms to violence. • Exhaustion catalyzes emotional distancing and feeling fed up, both predicting subsequent violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents two studies about trait emotional intelligence (EI) and diabetes. The first study investigated whether the level of trait EI of people with diabetes differs from the non-diabetes population. The second study explored the impact of trait EI on diabetes-related distress and diabetes self-management behaviors. Methods In study 1, an existing database of 8532 members of a health insurance fund was analyzed through group comparisons to investigate whether the level of trait EI of people suffering from diabetes differs from the non-diabetes people sharing the same gender, age, education level and BMI. Study 2 consisted of a survey among 146 persons with diabetes to investigate the relations between trait EI, distress and diabetes self-management behaviors through regressions and mediation analyses. Results People suffering from diabetes had significantly lower levels of trait EI than controls, but this difference was essentially due to differences in gender, age, educational level and BMI. However, trait EI influenced diabetes self-management behaviors. This relationship was mediated by diabetes-related distress, which proved to be a better predictor of self-management behaviors than depression or anxiety. Conclusion These findings suggest that enhancing trait EI can be an appropriate way to reduce the distress associated with diabetes management and the risk of complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The construct of emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the individual differences in the perception, processing, regulation, and utilization of emotional information. As these differences have been shown to have a significant impact on important life outcomes (e.g., mental and physical health, work performance and social relationships), this study investigated, using a controlled experimental design, whether it is possible to increase EI. Participants of the experimental group received a brief empirically-derived EI training (four group training sessions of two hours and a half) while control participants continued to live normally. Results showed a significant increase in emotion identification and emotion management abilities in the training group. Follow-up measures after 6months revealed that these changes were persistent. No significant change was observed in the control group. These findings suggest that EI can be improved and open new treatment avenues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The use of network analyses in psychology has increasingly gained traction in the last few years. A network perspective views psychological constructs as dynamic systems of interacting elements. We present the first study to apply network analyses to examine how the hallmark features of parental burnout — i.e., exhaustion related to the parental role, emotional distancing from children, and a sense of ineffectiveness in the parental role — interact with one another and with maladaptive behaviors related to the partner and the child(ren), when these variables are conceptualized as a network system. In a preregistered fashion, we reanalyzed the data from a French-speaking sample (n = 1551; previously published in Mikolajczak, Brianda et al., 2018), focusing on seven specific variables: the three hallmark parental burnout features, partner conflict, partner estrangement, neglectful behavior toward children, and violent behavior toward children. We computed two types of network models, a graphical Gaussian model to examine network structure, potential communities, and influential nodes, and a directed acyclic graph to examine the probabilistic dependencies among the different variables. Both network models pointed to emotional distance as an especially potent mechanism in activating all other nodes. These results suggest emotional distance as critical to the maintenance of the parental burnout network and a prime candidate for future interventions, while affirming that network analysis can successfully expose the structure and relationship of variables related to parental burnout and its consequences related to the partner and the child(ren). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Parental burnout and hair cortisol are significantly positively correlated. • Parental burnout and hair cortisol relation held after controlling for job burnout. • Hair cortisol of parents in burnout is twice as high as that of control parents. • Hair cortisol concentration is a potential biomarker of parental burnout symptoms. • A high level of stress in parents with parental burnout activates the HPA axis. Parental Burnout (PB) is a chronic stress-related disorder experienced in the parental role. Recent studies have shown that PB is a serious condition with severe consequences for parents (e.g., suicidal ideations) and children (e.g., parental neglect and violence). However, PB's biological correlates have not yet been examined. Numerous studies suggest that hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a valid biomarker of a variety of chronic stress conditions. HCC has been shown to be related to job burnout, but no studies have looked at the association between HCC and parental burnout. Given that the two forms of burnout are only weakly related, it is important to fill this gap. In this study, we compared HCC of parents suffering from PB (N = 119) to that of control parents (N = 59). We also examined the correlation between PB scores and HCC levels, controlling for job burnout symptoms. The results showed that HCC was 213 % higher in parents suffering from PB (mean level: 99.90 pg/mg) compared to controls (mean level: 46.83 pg/mg). Moreover, HCC was significantly related to PB (r = 0.27). These findings suggested that HCC can be considered as a biomarker of PB (though with caution, as 36.1 % of the parents in PB had HCC values equal to or below the mean of the control parents) and reinforce the view that HCC is a biomarker of chronic stress conditions. The HCC levels observed in parents suffering from PB point to the importance of this condition as well as its potential harmful consequences for their health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Adequate self-management activities are important predictors of diabetes outcomes. As diabetes literacy and self-efficacy are strong predictors of diabetes self-care, self-management education programs focus essentially on these factors. This study investigated whether emotional distress or depression moderates the relation between health literacy, self-efficacy and diabetes self-care behaviors.Methods: 128 people with type 2 diabetes were recruited in hospitals, through general practitioners and via a diabetes website, and completed a questionnaire assessing health literacy, self-efficacy, diabetes-related distress, depression and self-care behaviors.Results: Multiple regression analysis confirms that health literacy and self-efficacy significantly predict reported self-care behaviors. Additional regression analyses reveal that distress or depression do not predict self-care behaviors directly, but moderate the effect of health literacy, which has a weaker impact in patients experiencing distress or depression. In contrast, distress and depression do not moderate the effect of self-efficacy on diabetes self-care behaviors.Conclusion: Emotional distress, whether related to diabetes or not, prevents patients from acting on their competence to perform adequate self-management behaviors.Practice Implications: Diabetes Professionals should pay more attention to the patients' affective state and its influence on self-care. Psychological support should be integrated in the care for people suffering from type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child maltreatment remains a major social welfare and public health issue. The relationship between SES and child maltreatment has been intensively studied. And syntheses of meta-analyses have identified low SES as one of the five major antecedents of child maltreatment. The underlying mechanism that explains the association between low SES and child maltreatment, has however not been clearly demonstrated. In a sample of 3429 parents (51.53 % low SES), we postulated a double mediation to explain this relationship, namely that low SES increased the imbalance between the parent's risk and resource factors, and that this imbalance in turn increased parental burnout, which itself increased parental neglect and violence. We estimated three successive models encompassing the direct and indirect effects of low SES on the imbalance between risk and resource factors, parental burnout, parental neglect and parental violence. The results provide little support for the direct effect of poverty on parental burnout, parental neglect and parental violence. They rather confirm the mediating role of the imbalance between risk and resource factors and parental burnout. Parental burnout could be the missing link between poverty and child maltreatment. The results are discussed for research and clinical purposes. • Low SES does not relate directly to parental neglect and violence. • Parental burnout mediates the relation between poverty and child maltreatment. • Risk/resources imbalance mediates the relation between poverty and burnout. • Maltreatment by low-SES parents is more a risk of neglect than a risk of violence. • Risks of burnout, imbalance, and maltreatment also exist in high SES families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major obstacles in the learning process is temptation, which has the power to divert students from even their most important goals (e.g. getting a degree). In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that cognitive reappraisal could be used to successfully resist temptation. Participants had to memorize tedious material while being tempted by pictures pasted on the wall (Study 1) or by funny clips on the television (Study 2). In Study 1, compared to a control group, participants who were instructed to reappraise the task as an opportunity to improve their memory (1) were less tempted by the pictures, (2) maintained their enthusiasm for the task, and (3) showed better performance in a subsequent memory test. Study 2 replicated and extended the findings from Study 1, showing that cognitive reappraisal is effective whether the target of reappraisal is the temptation itself, or the longer term goal. Taken together, our findings provide compelling evidence that cognitive reappraisal (of either the task or the temptation) may be a useful tool for increasing students'' task performance and enthusiasm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although previous research has uncovered various ways people can savor or dampen their positive emotional experiences, the unique impact of each of these strategies on well-being remains unknown. The present study examines the relative impact of the main positive emotion regulation strategies on two components of well-being: positive affect (PA) and life satisfaction (LS). A total of 282 participants completed measures of PA, LS, overall happiness, and the savoring and dampening strategies they typically used. Results show that when experiencing positive events, focusing attention on the present moment and engaging in positive rumination promoted PA, whereas telling others promoted LS. In contrast, being distracted diminished PA, while focusing on negative details and engaging in negative rumination reduced LS. As the strategies targeted different components of well-being, our results further show that regulatory diversity (i.e., typically using various strategies rather than a few specific ones), was beneficial to overall happiness. Our findings suggest that there are several independent ways to make the best (or the worst) out of our positive emotions, and that the cultivation of multiple savoring strategies might be required to achieve lasting happiness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In order to understand how emotional aspects evolve and are related to craving for alcohol, different emotion-related variables were examined in relationship to craving during a protracted withdrawal. To this end state affectivity (PANAS), emotional intelligence (EI) (TEIQue), and craving (OCDS) were assessed at the onset (T1: day 1 or 2) and at the end (T2: day 14 to 18) of three-week protracted withdrawal among alcohol-dependent inpatients (DSM-IV, N =41). A significant decrease in craving and negative affectivity (NA) was observed from T1 to T2 while EI scores remained low. At both baseline and follow-up, there was a significant moderation effect of EI on the link between NA and craving for alcohol. Negative mood at the onset of the cure was linked to craving at the end of the withdrawal period but only among patients with low trait EI scores. The merits of using psychotherapeutic approaches were discussed in the treatment of alcohol addiction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Background: The fact that alexithymia is associated with several medical and psychiatric disorders suggests that it may be a vulnerability factor for various diseases, possibly by enhancing stress responses. To test this “alexithymia-stress hypothesis”, we measured the influence of alexithymia and alexithymia subfactors on the cortisol response to an acute stressor. Methods: Twenty-eight male students were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), during which saliva samples for cortisol determination were collected. Results: Subjects reacted to the stressor with a significant cortisol response. Subjects scoring high on alexithymia evidenced an increased basal anticipatory cortisol level but their peak cortisol and area under the curve were similar to that of low scorers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the increased cortisol in high scorers was due to only one subfactor of alexithymia, “the difficulty in describing feelings” factor (DDF). DDF high scorers reacted with a large increase in cortisol during anticipation but not during exposure to the stress test. Conclusion: The observation that alexithymia scores were associated with differences in cortisol levels before social stress exposure raises the possibility that alexithymia modulates cortisol levels, possibly by affecting the anticipatory cognitive appraisal of situations. This may be essentially attributed to the DDF factor. This observation sheds new light on the “alexithymia-stress hypothesis”, which may be of importance to better understand the relationship between alexithymia and diseases. Further studies to address this issue should focus on the factorial structure of the construct and on the importance of anticipation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]