Parenting engagement in the preschool parenting period: development of a brief scale and evidence from a working-parent demands–resources model

Research on working parents has focused primarily on strain, work–family conflict, and burnout, with less attention to positive motivational processes in parenting. Drawing on engagement theory and the demands–resources framework, this study developed and validated the Parenting Engagement Scale (PES) and assessed parenting engagement within a Working-Parent Demands–Resources (WPDR) model. Participants were working parents in Japan with at least one preschool-aged child. Study 1 consisted of a pilot sample of 600 parents (Male = 300; Female = 300) and an independent main sample of 800 parents (Male = 395; Female = 405). Item and exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, reliability estimation, and validity testing were used for scale development. Results supported a brief 9-item PES with a 3-factor structure corresponding to vigor, dedication, and absorption, with good internal consistency. Parenting engagement was positively associated with work engagement, subjective and psychological well-being, parenting resources, and childcare-related resilience, and negatively associated with parenting burden and anxiety. In Study 2, the main sample of 800 parents was used to test the WPDR model using hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling. Parenting burden was negatively associated with parenting engagement, whereas basic psychological need satisfaction in parenting and childcare-related resilience were positively associated with parenting engagement. Parenting engagement was positively associated with well-being. Work engagement was positively associated with parenting engagement in the structural model, whereas the reverse path was not statistically significant. Despite mixed model fit, the findings support parenting engagement as a useful construct for understanding positive adaptation among working parents of preschool child-rearing period.