Parental burnout and preschool children’s problem behaviors: the role of family functioning and children’s effortful control

Parental burnout refers to a negative emotional state that parents experience during the process of parenting, which directly affects parents' parenting behaviors, family atmosphere and children's development. However, less studies focusing on the influence mechanism of parental burnout on problem behaviors in preschool children. Therefore, this study mainly explores the relationship between parental burnout and their preschool children's problem behaviors, as well as the mediating role of family functioning and the moderating role of children's effortful control. 537 preschool children and their parents in Shanghai, China participated in this study, parents filled out the Parental Burnout Assessment, Family Functioning Assessment Device, Children's Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation, and Children's Behaviour Questionnaire. The results showed that: (1) Parental burnout was significantly associated with preschool children's problem behaviors; (2) Family functioning played a mediating role between parental burnout and children's problem behaviors; (3) Preschool children's effortful control moderated the second half path of the mediating model, that is, children's high-level effortful control alleviated the adverse effects of parental burnout on children's problem behaviors through family functioning. Results highlighted the importance of parental burnout and children's effortful control on preschool children's problem behaviors.