RESEARCH_FILE
Isabelle Roskam
UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain)
Known for:Co-founding the modern science of parental burnout: defining and measuring it as a distinct condition and leading the largest cross-cultural study of it to date.
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I should enjoy every moment”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“Some hours with them are hard or boring. Feeling that is not ingratitude.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
During one ordinary hour with your kids, notice and write down one moment you actually enjoyed and one you didn't. No judgment of the gap. Just observe what was really there.
Key findings
- 2017
Provided one of the first systematic measurements of burnout in the parental role, showing exhaustion, distancing and inefficacy cohere as a parent-specific syndrome rather than spillover from job burnout. Exhausted Parents: Development and Preliminary Validation of the Parental Burnout Inventory ↗
- 2018
Co-developed the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA), the now-standard instrument capturing exhaustion in the parental role, contrast with one's previous parental self, feelings of being fed up, and emotional distancing. A Step Forward in the Conceptualization and Measurement of Parental Burnout: The Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) ↗
- 2021
Led the 42-country, 17,409-parent study finding that parental burnout prevalence varies dramatically across countries and is highest in individualistic cultures — evidence that the condition is substantially culturally driven. Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study ↗