Child-Rearing Involvement and Parental Emotional Exhaustion: The Moderating Role of Supportive Relationships for Mothers and Fathers in Italian Dual-Earner Families

Abstract

The study aims to shed light on the role of social support in sustaining parental well-being while managing the demands of child-rearing and work responsibilities. Specifically, it investigates the moderating roles of both general social support and specific sources of support (i.e., educational services, recreational services and extended families) in the relationship between parental child-rearing involvement and emotional exhaustion of mothers and fathers in dual-earner families. Managing parental roles could be perceived as a burden if not sufficiently supported by additional resources. Evidence of that is found especially for dual-earner families in familistic societies, like in Southern Italy where the study was conducted. One hundred twenty-six Italian dual-earner parenting couples completed measures assessing involvement in some parental child-rearing engagements; perceived social support; parenting support given by extended families, educational services and recreational services; emotional exhaustion. Mothers reported higher levels of both child-rearing involvement and emotional exhaustion compared with fathers. However, the relationship between parental child-rearing involvement and emotional exhaustion was significantly moderated by both general social support and extended family support, irrespective of the parent's gender. The support provided by educational services did not moderate such a relationship, but it had a significant direct effect on parental emotional exhaustion. Within a familistic society, parental child-rearing involvement increases the risk of parental emotional exhaustion only when working parents cannot rely on supportive relationships. Findings underline the importance of supporting working parents in managing child-rearing tasks and planning support programmes for those parents at risk of burnout.