Coping Strategies as Predictors of Parental Burnout Among Mothers: Evidence from a Hungarian Sample

Background: Parental burnout is a form of psychological exhaustion resulting from prolonged parental stress. It is characterized by emotional distancing from one’s children, emotional fatigue, a sense of being overwhelmed, and feelings of failure in the parental role. The aim of our study was to explore the relationships between coping styles, sociodemographic variables, and parental burnout in a Hungarian sample. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 221 parents raising children up to the age of ten. The instruments included the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Results: Our findings indicate that support-seeking coping was associated with lower levels of burnout, whereas emotion-focused coping and poorer self-rated health were related to higher burnout scores ( p < 0.05). Postpartum depressive symptoms showed a strong association with emotional exhaustion and parental contrast, suggesting shared psychological mechanisms underlying these phenomena ( p < 0.05). Sociodemographic factors were not found to be significant predictors ( p > 0.05). Conclusions: Based on our results, parental burnout appears to be primarily psychological in nature, and the development of emotional resilience—particularly through mindfulness-based and cognitive-behavioral interventions—may play a key role in its prevention and treatment.