Parental burnout and remote learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic: Parents’ motivations for involvement.

What is it about?

Given the chronic stress that families experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by school closures, many parents were vulnerable to parental burnout as they supervised their children’s remote learning in addition to other roles. When parents’ basic needs are met, they are optimally motivated to support their child’s learning and create environments that support their children’s needs. Parents with 5 to 8-year-olds were recruited from states in the US with the longest shelter-in-place restrictions (CA, NY) to complete an online survey, resulting in a sample (N=218) of parents from 38 states in the US (majority CA). Results showed parents exhibiting more autonomous motivation and two latent profiles denoting only motivation quantity but not quality. Higher burnout was related to non-optimal motivation styles and profiles whilst academic concern was related to increased motivation. Parents of older children had increased motivation. Findings highlight that even during a global pandemic, parents showed some levels of optimal motivation to support their children’s home-based learning. Results also highlight the importance of instrumental and social-emotional support for parents to meet their own basic needs in order to support the developmental and learning needs of their children.

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Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash

Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Study findings highlight the importance of helping parents meet their own basic psychological needs so they can support and provide for the basic needs of their children. This includes instrumental and social-emotional support for parents so they are equipped and optimally motivated to support the developmental and learning needs of their children, particularly during times of chronic stress and trauma. Parental burnout is a symptom of the heavy toll on parents’ physical and mental health, and resources and support from practitioners and mental health professionals to help parents learn self-care techniques and build coping mechanisms to help meet parents’ basic needs and prevent or alleviate parental burnout will support both parents and their children in getting through a highly stressful and traumatic period.