The Link Between Mothers’ Parental Burnout and Adolescent Aggression: The Roles of Maternal Rejection and Adolescent Empathy

TL;DR

This study explores how a mother's burnout relates to her adolescent child's aggression, highlighting the roles of maternal rejection and empathy.

Contribution

The study identifies maternal rejection as a mediator and adolescent empathy as a moderator in the link between parental burnout and aggression.

Findings

Maternal parental burnout is positively associated with adolescent aggression.

Adolescent-perceived maternal rejection partially mediates the relationship between parental burnout and aggression.

Adolescent cognitive empathy buffers the effect of parental burnout on aggression, especially in boys.

Abstract

Although previous studies have shown that parental burnout is a risk factor for adolescents’ development, much remains unknown about the associations between mothers’ parental burnout and adolescents’ aggression as well as the potential mechanisms underlying this relation. To fill these gaps, the current study tested the relationship between mothers’ parental burnout and adolescents’ aggression, as well as the mediating role of maternal rejection and the moderating role of adolescent empathy and gender. A total of 578 Chinese adolescent–mother dyads (for adolescents, 52.42% girls, Mage = 15.30, SD = 1.67; for mothers, Mage = 42.71, SD = 5.49) completed questionnaires regarding mothers’ parental burnout, adolescent aggression, and perceived maternal rejection, as well as empathy. The results showed that mothers’ parental burnout was significantly and positively associated with adolescent aggression and that this relationship was partially mediated by adolescent-perceived maternal rejection. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis further revealed that adolescents’ cognitive empathy served as a buffer in the relationship between parental burnout and adolescents’ aggression. In addition, the relation between parental burnout and aggression as well as parental burnout and maternal rejection was stronger for boys. These findings emphasize the need to improve social cognitive abilities in aggression intervention programs.

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