Validity of the Finnish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA)

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to validate the Finnish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) using data from 1,688 Finnish parents (91% mothers) living in Finland with at least one child living at home. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the theoretical four‐factor structure of the PBA – emotional exhaustion in one’s parental role, contrast with previous parental self, feelings of being fed up with one’s parental role, and emotional distancing from one’s children. Internal consistency for the total scale was excellent (Cronbach’s alpha ≥ 0.90) and for the subscales from acceptable (alpha ≥ 0.70) to excellent. The results further demonstrated strict factorial invariance of PBA across genders and educational status groups. Finally, the PBA and its four subscales correlated as expected with the three criteria variables (depressive symptoms, sleep disruptions, and self‐esteem), the latent factors of all three criteria variables being still clearly unique and separate constructions from parental burnout factors.

Exhausted parents in Japan: Preliminary validation of the Japanese version of the Parental Burnout Assessment

“…In the present study, gender associated to PBA-J in the multiple regression analysis, and mothers' PBA-J total scores were higher than fathers' scores. These results were similar to the findings of Roskam et al (2018) and Aunola et al (2020). However, there are at least two problems with interpreting these differences simply to mean that mothers suffer more from burnout than fathers.…”

“…First, we tested whether the PBA-J had a four-factor structure identical to that of the original PBA. Additionally, as in previous studies (Aunola et al, 2020), factor invariance between mothers and fathers was tested.…”

“…Second, we examined gender effects of parental burnout in Japan, as mothers have been found to have higher burnout scores than fathers in Europe (Aunola et al, 2020;Roskam et al, 2018).…”

“…For the above reasons, the PBA can be considered a good candidate for assessing parental burnout. However, the questionnaire has thus far mainly been used among French-, English-, Chinese-, and Finnish-speaking parents (Aunola, Sorkkila, & Tolvanen, 2020;Cheng et al, 2020;Roskam et al, 2018); its validity and reliability in other cultural contexts and languages remains unknown. The possibility of cultural differences in the structure and expression of parental burnout is undeniable.…”

Risk Factors for Parental Burnout among Finnish Parents: The Role of Socially Prescribed Perfectionism

“…Parental burnout was measured using the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) (Roskam et al 2018) which was translated to Finnish and validated in Finland by the authors (Aunola et al 2019). The scale consists of 23 items: nine measure exhaustion in the parental role (e.g., I feel completely run down by my role as a parent), six measure contrast in the parental self (e.g., I don't think I'm the good father/mother that I used to be to my children), five measure feelings of being fed up as a parent (e.g., I can't stand my role as father/mother anymore), and three measure emotional distancing from one's children (e.g., I do what I'm supposed to do for my children but nothing more).…”