1. Gender Equality and Maternal Burnout: A 40-Country Study
- Author
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Isabelle Roskam, Laura Gallée, Joyce Aguiar, Ege Akgun, Andrew Arena, Gizem Arikan, Kaisa Aunola, Michel Bader, Elizabeth J. Barham, Eliane Besson, Wim Beyers, Emilie Boujut, Maria Elena Brianda, Anna Brytek-Matera, Noémie Carbonneau, Filipa César, Bin-Bin Chen, Géraldine Dorard, Luciana Carla dos Santos Elias, Sandra Dunsmuir, Natalia Egorova, Nicolas Favez, Anne-Marie Fontaine, Heather Foran, Julia Fricke, Kaichiro Furutani, Myrna Gannagé, Maria Gaspar, Lucie Godbout, Amit Goldenberg, James J. Gross, Maria Ancuta Gurza, Muhammad Aamir Hashmi, Mai Helmy, Mai Trang Huynh, Emerence Kaneza, Taishi Kawamoto, Nassima Kellou, Oussama Medjahdi, Goran Knezevic, Ljiljana B. Lazarevic, Sarah Le Vigouroux, Astrid Lebert-Charron, Vanessa Leme, Gao-Xian Lin, Carolyn MacCann, Denisse Manrique-Millones, Marisa Matias, María Isabel Miranda-Orrego, Marina Miscioscia, Clara Morgades-Bamba, Seyyedeh Fatemeh Mousavi, Badra Moutassem-Mimouni, Ana Muntean, Hugh Murphy, Alexis Ndayizigiye, Josué Ngnombouowo Tenkue, Sally Olderbak, Sophie Ornawka, Daniela Oyarce-Cadiz, Pablo A. Pérez-Díaz, Konstantinos V. Petrides, Claudia Pineda-Marin, Alena Prikhidko, Fernando Salinas-Quiroz, Raquel Sánchez-Rodríguez, Ainize Sarrionandia, Céline Scola, Alessandra Simonelli, Bart Soenens, Emma Sorbring, Matilda Sorkkila, Charlotte Schrooyen, Elena Stănculescu, Elena Starchenkova, Dorota Szczygiel, Thi Minh Thuy Tri, Mélissa Tremblay, Ayse Meltem Ustundag-Budak, Maday Valdés Pacheco, Hedwig van Bakel, Lesley Verhofstadt, Jaqueline Wendland, Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Moïra Mikolajczak, UCL - SSH/IPSY - Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Institut de recherche en sciences psychologiques (IPSY), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Processus de Santé (LPPS (URP_4057)), Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Fudan University (FU), Laboratoire Activités Physiques et Sportives et processus PSYchologiques : recherches sur les Vulnérabilités (APSY-V), Université de Nîmes (UNIMES), Centre de Recherche en Psychologie de la Connaissance, du Langage et de l'Émotion (PsyCLÉ), and Aix Marseille Université (AMU)
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WORK ,Cultural Studies ,FIT INDEXES ,EUROPE ,family ,Social Psychology ,family policies ,gender equality paradox ,Social Sciences ,[SHS.PSY]Humanities and Social Sciences/Psychology ,perhepolitiikka ,General Medicine ,äidit ,kansainvälinen vertailu ,egalitarian values ,uupumus ,culture ,parental burnout ,tasa-arvo ,sukupuoliroolit ,Anthropology ,[SCCO.PSYC]Cognitive science/Psychology ,kulttuurierot - Abstract
International audience; In Western countries, recent decades have witnessed a revolution toward gender equality. Inequalities have been greatly reduced in areas such as education or employment. Because inequalities lead to distress, this development has largely benefited women. One notable exception is the realm of parenting, which has remained rife with inequalities even in the most egalitarian countries. We hypothesized that experiencing inequality in parenting when one holds egalitarian values and raising a child in a country characterized by a high level of gender equality in other areas, increases mothers’ psychological distress in the specific area of parenting. Multilevel modeling analyses computed among 11,538 mothers from 40 countries confirmed this prediction: high egalitarian values at the individual level and high gender equality at the societal level are associated with higher burnout levels in mothers. The associations hold beyond differences in sociodemographic characteristics at the individual level and beyond economic disparities at the societal level. These findings show the importance of egalitarian values and gender equality and their paradoxical effect when inequalities are still present in specific areas as parenting. This study reveals the crucial need to act not only at the micro level but also at the macro level to promote gender equality in parenting and prevent parental burnout.
- Published
- 2022
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