EXPLORING PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS AND ASSESSING BURNOUT IN TWO-PARENT, DUAL-EARNER HOMES by Sophia Jo Herbert A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION in FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY Ogden, Utah April 14, 2022 ____________________________________ Dan Hubler, Ph.D. ____________________________________ C.Ryan Dunn, Ph.D.____________________________________ Louise R. Moulding, Ph.D.Abstract This study is a report on the exploration of the relationship between job burnout, parental burnout, and inter-role conflict. The purpose is to examine what factors or combination of factors are contributing most to parental feelings of role conflict and burnout. The research question guiding this project asked how mental load, role conflict, hours spent in paid work, social class, and number of children in the home impact parental feelings of burnout. An online assessment using the survey tool Qualtrics was disseminated via social media, word of mouth, and via university email. The responses of the parents who have taken part in this study have indicated that there are various intersections where various roles can collide. The survey included questions in work exhaustion, home exhaustion, parental burnout, hours spent in the workplace, and the number of children in the household. The results reinforce that working parents can be better supported. Two open-ended questions were also included that indicated some positive spillover from a portion of respondents. Parents make countless decisions during this period in their lifespan. Trusting in parents’ decision-making processes and encouraging healthy work and home lives will be paramount to more fulfilled and satisfied parents. Nature of the Problem Parents in the United States have their nose to the grindstone as they manage and use their resources such as time, energy, and money. Although a majority of Americans believe that their income is keeping up with increasing cost of living, Pew research reports that 44% of Americans “say their incomes are falling behind the cost of living” (Views of nation’s economy, personal finances, job availability, 2019). From this, current economics and societal demands have put more parents in the workplace (Pew Research Center, 2015). This need for dual-earning households has been increasing steadily and is supported in the literature. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data that considers married families both spouses were employed in 45.5 percent of families, which is a decrease compared to 49.7 percent in 2019 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021). Additionally, parents are reporting greater amounts of mental labor in both family-specific tasks and work-specific tasks (Offer, 2014). With more parents in the workplace, comes various challenges in maintaining the household and managing time, energy, money, and other resources. More than ever before, parents are spending more time in the workplace and therefore more time away from the home. Balancing these roles can be complex as the roles have differing demands and people have limited time and energy to spend in each role. Smith and Hammon (2017) define a role as “a set of social norms for a specific situation” (p. 17). Inter-role conflict is defined as the “simultaneous occurrence of two (or more) sets of pressures such that compliance with one would make more difficult compliance with the other” (Kahn et al., 1964). Working parents have two distinct roles as both a parent and an earner that can create conflict as these worlds are not separate. Increased time spent working and away from the family has become so common that the term work-interfering-with-family (WIF) has become present in the literature (Borelli et al., 2017; Maclean et al., 2021). While there are many joys to parenthood, parents face various struggles as they adjust their lives to care for a child. Mothers and fathers face heightened demands from both work and family. Parents are under the unique stress of feeling the need to be both a full-time parent and contribute financially to the household. In 2016, mothers averaged 25 hours per week doing paid work in comparison to just nine hours per week in 1965 (Geiger et al., 2020). With this in mind, it is valid to consider the financial and mental demands of finding and affording quality childcare while both parents are working. According to one report, 62% of parents with infants or preschool-age children said that finding high quality childcare that fits in their budget is hard to find (Parenting in America, 2015). Both parents being in the workforce creates a situation that has both benefits and challenges. Haddock and Rattenborg (2003) said it well by describing that “combining family and work is both beneficial and a source of strain” (p. 1703) Because families are weighing out what is best for them, it will be beneficial to know exactly where supports could potentially be added. Families need both parents working in order to have financial stability but also need to have work-life balance to be able to meet the various needs of their family. Rather than trying to get one parent back at home, society can adapt to support dual-earning families by tuning into their biggest struggles, learning their strengths and identifying the resources that will help parents to thrive. Literature Review Dual-earning Homes The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that since the 1960’s there has been a rise in the amount of dual-earning homes with children (Sullivan, 2020). In fact, the percentage of two-parent homes with both parents in the workforce full time has gone up from 31% in 1970 to 46% in 2015 (Raising kids and running a household, 2015). This data indicates that there has been a steady shift away from traditional homes with a father providing financially for the family and a mother caring for the house and children. This shift is largely due to women entering the workforce heavily in recent decades and staying in the workforce. In 1970, women made up 37.5% of the workforce compared to 47.4% of the workforce in 2019 (Women’s Bureau, n.d.). As women take more of the workforce, many choose to stay in their career despite the potential resource pull that choosing motherhood can bring. Parenthood and employment are both highly time-consuming, so many parents are stuck in between the demands of both roles. Increasing financial stability is likely a major reason families chose to have both parents in the workforce considering that around 80% of Americans have some form of debt (“The Complex Story of American Debt”, 2015), it costs $233,610 on average to raise a child through the age of 17 (Lino, 2020), and that the median family budget for a two-parent, two-child home is $39,984 (Allegretto, 2006, p 444). Financial stability is clearly gained by having both parents in the workforce and providing a source of income. Depending on the age of the child(ren), families with one parent working full time and the other parent not working at all had an average annual income, before taxes, between $63,507 and $103,564 compared to two working parent homes that were averaging between $117,380 and $123,282 annually. While the income difference is substantial, the costs associated with both parents in the workforce are worth considering. One complication of having both parents working is paying for facilitating and managing childcare. The cost of childcare is often a major deterrent of having both parents working full or part time. The cost of childcare is an important variable that families consider when deciding working arrangements. On average, childcare costs a family $60.51 per month with one parent working full time and the other parent not working outside of the home and $508.22 for childcare when both parents are working full time (Sullivan, 2020). Though not financial, another cost to consider is the potential stress spillover from work into the home. Parents are reporting greater amounts of mental labor in both family-specific tasks and work-specific tasks, with mothers reporting a unique challenge of work and family demands (Offer, 2014). With both parents working outside the home, it would be a challenge for both to be able to leave when they feel at work at the front door. The stress that comes from paid work can have an impact on other areas of life, whether intentional or not. Emotional and financial costs are just two of the many components within dual-earning homes that influence to work-life balance. Work-life Balance Increased time in the workforce is another factor that has led to struggles with work-life balance. Work-life balance has been a challenge for academics to fully define. However, Kalliath and Brough (2008) came up with a definition of work-life balance being “the individual perception that work and non-work activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an individual’s current life priorities” (p. 326). For this research, work-life balance will be using the previous definition as it applies to parental burnout within a context of two-parent, dual-earning homes. From 1970 to 2015, the percent of two-parent homes where both parents worked full-time rose from 31% to 46% (Pew Research Center, 2015). This same research from Pew also reports that only 26% of today’s two-parent households have a mother who isn’t working out of the home. (Pew Research Center, 2015). There is limited data about two-parent homes with mothers working full time and a father that is not employed outside of the home. Increasing time spent at the workplace and away from the family has become so common that the terms work-interfering-with-family (WIF) and work-family conflict (WFC) have become present in the literature on parenting (Ahmad, 2008; Borelli et al., 2017; Maclean et al., 2021). Using “Role Theory,” a theory positing that people conform to a certain set of behaviors from a role, Kahn and collogues (1964) worked through work-family relationships and the conflicts that can arise. Later research noted work-family conflict as “a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from work and family spheres are mutually incompatible” (Ahmad, 2008, p. 57). Spillover is a potential effect of work-family conflict. Spillover describes one environment effecting the other and vice versa. It is important to digest that spillover can take on both a negative and positive role, flow in both directions, and be reciprocally related (Anderson, et al., 2002, p. 789). While there is stress that can come from work back into the home to create conflict, there is also research showing the financial implications of having a dual-earning household. Regardless of the directions in which stress can seep from one domain to another, it is clear that inter-role conflict has to be further examined. Boye (2014) defines a dual-earner couple as “a cohabiting couple where both partners work in the labor market” and a dual-career couple as “a dual-earner couple where both partners are pursuing a career”. Similarly, Boye (2014) defines a one-and-a-half-earner as “when one partner works part-time to complement the main earner’s income” (n.p.). These definitions have become necessary as family economic functioning and structure has undergone changes in recent decades. So much has in fact changed in the American household that currently it has been reported that 60% of married couples with children under 18 years of age are dual-income homes (Pew Research Center, 2015). Similarly, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the percentage of full-time and dual-earning homes between 49.9% and 58% (Sullivan, 2020). Additionally, this data reported that these same full-time and dual-earning homes were on average annually bringing in between $117,023 and $123,282 in income depending on the ages of the children while homes with just one full-time working parent were making on average between $63,507 and $103, 564 per year depending on the ages of the children (Sullivan, 2020). Another difference in the economics of dual-earning and nondual-earning homes is money spent on childcare. When both parents are working full time with children under 6 in the home, $508.22 is the average monthly cost for childcare, whereas with only one parent working full time and the other parent not working the average monthly expenditure drops to a mere $60.51 (Sullivan, 2020). How a family funds itself can also play a role in how labor at home is managed. A standard definition of household division of labor is “the allocation of duties implicated in keeping a family running smoothly in the private sphere” which includes responsibilities such as “cleaning, cooking, laundry, and childcare” (Adams, 2016). A 2012 Gallup study showed that stay-at-home moms reported higher feelings of worry, sadness, stress, anger, and depression than employed moms and employed women with no children in their home (Mender et al., 2012). Traditionally, husbands and fathers have been delegated to financially supporting the family unit, while wives and mothers are accountable for household work. However, the family has dramatically evolved in its roles since then. During the 20th century various economic and political situations have put more women into the workforce. As cited in the US Census, “there were around 23.5 million employed women with children under the age of 18 and nearly two-thirds worked full-time, year-round” (Christnacht & Sullivan, 2015). Pew Research Center report mentioned that over half (54%) of two-parent, dual-earning homes report that “the mother does more when it comes to managing the children’s schedules and activities” (Pew Research Center, 2015). This same article also reports that 60% of mothers and 52% of fathers say it is a challenge to be able to balance work and family (Raising Kids and Running a Household: How Working Parents Share the Load, 2015). The authors of the Pew Research article go on to mention that while two-parent households do tend to have greater balance in division of labor at home, items such as playing with children, household chores, and caring for sick children do tend to fall as more of a motherly responsibility (2015). The above research outlines the struggles that dual-earning, two-parent homes can face. There is a current misconception that with more money and both parents in the home, these families face reduced problems than those in low resource households. While the challenges are different from any other family structure and dynamic, there are still obstacles that two-parent, dual-earning homes face including potential of parental burnout. Burnout Parents are under the unique stress of feeling the need to be both a fully available and engaged parent and contribute financially to the household with their own career (Blair-Loy, 2003). Parenthood can be a calling and very fulfilling, and simultaneously it can also be a major life stressor. While children give parents a new sense of identity and raising them is full of precious moments, there are also intensive demands that come with parenting. Parenthood comes with no paycheck and no designated time off (Brannen & Cernigoj, 2013) yet it arrives massive responsibilities. When the duties associated with parenting become overwhelming and parents can no longer manage the constant tax on resources that parenthood demands, there are negative consequences. Burnout is one such consequence. Burnout is a phrase typically associated with one’s job. Job burnout is defined as “prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job” that is resulting from feelings of “exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy” (Maslach et al., 2001). Similarly, people can experience feelings of burnout outside of their paid work. One such arena where burnout is presenting itself is in parenthood. Parental burnout is a relatively new term but a concept as old as parenthood itself. This type of burnout is a condition that has been characterized by the following traits: “an overwhelming exhaustion related to one’s parental role, an emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of parental ineffectiveness” (Mikolajczak et al., 2019). It is the result of the chronic stressors related to parenting (Mikolajczak & Roskam, 2018). The three main aspects of parental burnout include exhaustion from the combination of the responsibilities stemming from one’s parental role, feeling emotionally distant from one’s child(ren), and feeling ineffective as a parent (Mikolajczak et al., 2019). This complex condition is more relevant than ever as the current generation of parents explore the demands of managing home life and exploring career paths. Working parents have multiple roles beyond those of just a provider and caregiver. The choice to take on both roles is often the result of feeling fulfillment from work and the simultaneous feeling of purpose from being a parent. One study found that stress and feeling rundown are likely when the boundaries of work and family blur and stress from one area goes into the other (Braunstein-Bercovitz, 2013). Some research is pointing towards over half of fulltime employed women, regardless of parental status, reporting that they are “very satisfied” with their jobs (“The Demographics of Gender Discrimination”, 2013). This same Pew Research study also reports that among mothers with children under 18 years of age, 46% are “very satisfied with their jobs (2013). This 12% drop in satisfaction, compared to fathers only 2% drop, could be due to the fact that mothers are more likely than fathers to experience career interruptions to care for a child or other family member (The Demographics of Gender Discrimination, 2013). Despite working parents’ best efforts, child care can fall through, children get sick, children’s extracurriculars and appointments can clash with parents’ work schedules. Considering the potential clash of both family life and working life, it is understandable that working mothers are often under the stress and pressure of feeling the need to always be running at full speed in both their paid and unpaid work. Time is a limited resource for everyone. With just 24 hours in a day parents especially are feeling the pressure of time constraints coupled with the want to perform in both spheres. According to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, women (both mothers and non-mothers) who are employed full-time spend, on average, 1.69 hours a day on household activities, 0.66 hours a day caring for members of their household, and 5.69 hours a day at work (American Time Use Survey, 2020). This totals to 8.04 hours a day spent in paid work and non-paid work. Pew Research Center used data from the ATUS over multiple years, 2003-2012, and were able to analyze how mothers spend their time. Mothers who do not engage in paid work spend more time on average per week doing childcare, housework, sleeping, and in leisure time, whereas mothers who work outside the home spend large amounts of their waking hours at their workplace and away from the home (Cohn et al., 2014). Mothers in the workplace are often left with little time in between duties as they return from their job and have to jump directly into their “second shift” at home. The “second shift” refers to the various aspects of homemaking (Hochschild & Machung, 2012). The ATUS and the analyses of it shows the pressure of time on mothers as well as the demands of both work at home and out of the home. The many reports above regarding burnout, mental load, and work-life balance are pointing out that in American society, people are trying to find stability in both being able to earn money for their household and be an active and caring member within the household. There are, however, gaps in the literature. Family science is a relatively new field compared to other social sciences. New topics are constantly emerging as families are constantly adapting. As more mothers are active in the workforce, it is necessary to study how this household change could potentially impact both society at large as well as within the home. There has been a decades-long change of more women going to college and entering the workforce (Goldin et al., 2006; Population Reference Bureau, 2001). From this, society has had a change in family structure and dynamics. Without studying the population of dual-income, two-parent homes, policy cannot be made to aid these families. Having a study on the parents within this population would allow the unique perspective of being able to understand what working situation the family is in, how they perceive it, and the impacts of that perception. By focusing on the parents while also exploring the changes in motherhood, the research may be able to identify areas to improve overall family life and functioning. It is clear that there needs to be a deliberate exploration of the experiences of parental burnout within dual-earning families. Purpose The purpose of this project is to examine the dynamics and experiences of working parents in two-parent, dual-earning homes. The objective of this study is to learn more about the functioning of two-parent, dual-earning families in order to understand how they can be better supported. This research was designed to assess if mental load, role conflict, hours in paid work, social class, and number of children in the home impact parental feelings of burnout? Hypotheses Five hypotheses were be tested to further understand the association among job burnout, parental burnout, and role conflict. The hypotheses are as follows: H1 As the parents’ work exhaustion increases, parental burnout increases. H2 As home exhaustion increases, parental burnout increases. H3 As role conflict increases, parental burnout increases. H4 As the number of hours in paid work increases, parental burnout increases. H5 Parental burnout will differ based on the category of social class reported by the respondent. H6 As the number of children increases, parental burnout increases. Methods This mixed-method research project utilized a Qualtrics survey containing both qualitative and quantitative questions. Participants in the study are working parents who live in dual-earning homes with at least one child living in the home. The survey itself has been designed to gather responses to the Professional Fulfillment Index (Trockel, et al., 2018) as well as the Parental Burnout Inventory (Roskam et al., 2017). Additional survey questions have been added to learn more about participants demographics, current working arrangement, and perceived spillover between work and home. The analyses to test these hypotheses for this study include correlation tests, regression tests, and thematic analyses of open-ended questions. These are used in order to test the hypotheses above and have a clearer picture of what this population is experiencing. Sample This sample was composed of 93 individuals. 81 self-identified as female and 12 self-identified as male. The selected sample age of the participants ranged from 19 to 70. Twenty-eight participants were aged 19-29, 32 were between the ages of 30-39, 25 were between the ages of 40-49, 6 were between the ages of 50-59, 0 were between the ages of 60-69, and 1 participant was 70 years-old (M = 35.65). Among the participants, 2 were Asian, 2 were Native American or Alaska Native, 0 were Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0 were African American or Black, 84 were White or Caucasian, and 0 were Middle Eastern or Arab. Two participants did not disclose their ethnicity. Regarding household income, 10 reported an income of u to $30,000, 15 between $30,000 and $60,000, 34 between $70,000 and $100,000, and 33 reported a household income over $100,000. Following income, participants were also asked to identify their perceived social class. Two reported poor, 16 working class, 66 middle class, 5 affluent, and 1 preferred to not answer. In relation to participants’ highest educational level earned, 10 had a high school diploma or equivalent, 1 had vocational training, 20 had some college experience, 21 had earned an Associate’s degree, 18 had earned a Bachelor’s degree, 6 had completed some post undergraduate work, 15 had earned a Master’s degree, and 2 had an applied or professional Doctorate degree. Regarding the participants title, 77 identified as a mother, 11 as a father, 0 as a step-mother, 0 as a step-father, 1 as a foster mother, 1 as a foster father, and 2 as another title. In regard to religion, 8 were Agnostic, 1 Atheist, 62 Christian, 11 Spiritual but not religious, 7 preferred to not answer, and 4 reported another religion not listed. The vast majority of the sample, 71 respondents, are currently living in Utah. 5 reported currently living in Idaho, 2 in Arizona, 2 in Illinois, and 1 respondent in California, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. When responding to current marital status 10 were single, 73 married, 6 divorced, 3 cohabitating, and 1 widowed. As a generalization, the average participant in this survey is a married, Christian, white, and middle-class female residing in Utah with an education beyond a high school degree. Procedure The informed consent was obtained online, and the participants could only access the survey after consenting to the survey. Following institutional review and approval, participants completed an online survey that was created with Qualtrics survey software. The survey was primarily distributed across Weber State University outlets (e.g. classroom assignments and student emails) and through social media. The survey included questions relating to parental attitudes and work fulfillment as well as demographics. Measures This study utilized multiple measures to assess various perceptions of working parents. These measures were used to gain insight on parental mental load through both work exhaustion and home exhaustion. Additionally, a professional fulfillment measure was implemented. Single item questions were used to gain knowledge of the participants number of hours in paid work, self-perceived social class, and the number of children in the household. Professional Fulfillment To assess the participant’s level of fulfillment, the Professional Fulfillment Index (Trockel, et al., 2018). was used. Participants were asked to rate, on a five-point scale, their current feelings over the past two weeks. The measure for professional fulfillment was found to be highly reliable (6 items; α = 0.92). Parents’ Mental Load To measure a parent's mental load, a three-item measure from the Parental Burnout Assessment (Roskam, et al., 2018) was used. The measure included three items that assessed parent’s mental load and exhaustion specifically in their work domain. Reliability for this measure was found to be good, α = 0.90. Additionally, a parent's mental load was measured by calculating the mean of three-items that were rated on a seven-point scale. These items assessed a parent's mental load specifically in the home domain. The reliability was found to be highly reliable (3 items, α = 0.92). Parental Burnout To measure Parental Burnout, the Parental Burnout Assessment was used (Roskam, et al., 2018) This six-item measure included items that measures contrast in parental self and feelings of being fed up. Three of the items used a six-point scale and the other three items used a five-point scale. The measure was found to be reliable (α = 0.85). Results Hypothesis 1. It was expected that as the reported levels of Work Exhaustion increased, reported parental burnout would increase. Results from the bivariate correlation test supported this hypothesis by indicating a positive correlation between work exhaustion and parental burnout (r (91) = .45, p < .001). See Table 1. Hypothesis 2. As the home exhaustion increased, parental burnout will increase. Results from the bivariate correlation test supported this hypothesis by indicating a positive correlation between home exhaustion and parental burnout (r (91) = .53, p < .001). See Table 1. Hypothesis 3. As role conflict increases parental burnout will also increase. Insufficient data form the survey to test this hypothesis. Though two qualitative open-ended questions in the survey touched on positive role spillover, a measure specific to role conflict was not implemented, so this hypothesis could not be tested fully. See Table 1. Hypothesis 4. As the number of hours in paid work increases, parental burnout will increase. Results from the bivariate correlation test failed to support this hypothesis by indicating no significant correlation between number of hours worked and parental burnout (r (90) = -.04, ns). See Table 1. Hypothesis 5. Parental burnout will differ based on the category of social class reported by the participant. A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of self-reported perception of social class on parental burnout. Results indicated no significant difference in parental burnout based on self-reported perception of social class [F(5, 84) = .41, ns]. See Table 1. Hypothesis 6. As the number of children increases so will parental burnout. Results from the bivariate correlation test supported this hypothesis by indicating a positive correlation between number of children in the household and parental burnout (r (85) = .34, p < .01). See Table 1. Table 1 Correlations Among Key Study Variables M (SD) Work Exhaustion Parental Burnout Home Exhaustion Hours in Paid Work Number of Children in Home Work Exhaustion 2.67 (1.04) -- .45*** .28** -.04 .21 Parental Burnout 2.10 (1.27) -- -- .53*** -.04 .34*** Home Exhaustion 3.14 (1.59) -- -- -- .06 .28* Work Hours 32.96 (14.62) -- -- -- -- -.21 Number of Children 1.93(1.15) -- -- -- -- -- *** p < .001, ** p < .01, * p < .05, + p < .10 Discussion Prior research surrounding dual-earning families suggested that both mothers and fathers experience an increased mental load by engaging in both parenthood and in paid work outside of the home (Offer, 2014). Additionally, research has shown emergence of work-family conflict causing role strain as individuals are faced with managing multiple roles that have a large demand on time (Ahmad, 2008). Parents specifically are more susceptible to role conflict because these two spheres may have conflicting demands. The possibly overwhelming and constant demands of parenthood has led to the dawn of an age-old concept with a modern label, parental burnout. Various research studies pertaining to mental load, work-life balance, and burnout point out the challenge that many parents face as they attempt to find a balance between being able to financially contribute to their family and being an involved and loving parent. The goal of this research study was to further reflect on the relationship between mental load, work-life balance, and burnout within dual-earning households. This research showed that there is a positive correlation between both work exhaustion and parental burnout as well as between home exhaustion and parental burnout. Additionally, it was found that there is a positive correlation between the number of children in the home and parental burnout. These findings point out the need to further support dual-earner families. Home exhaustion and work exhaustion are complex topics with numerous factors that are at play. Supporting parents to both manage and prevent exhaustion could be addressed in a multitude of ways. It is of great importance to both trust the decisions that parents make in their home management and also provide support systems that allow them to do what is best for their family. This study also included two open-ended questions that allowed respondents to share if they felt that being a parent made them better in their workplace and if being in the workplace made them a better parent. Not all respondents answered these questions. However, of the respondents that did respond, there were common themes seen. Respondents reported that some positive spillover from role-to-role is likely. Respondents reported that being a parent made them more patient, compassionate, and understanding of others. There was also commentary that being employed created a demand for time management skills, boundary setting, and an improved work ethic. Community services that support working families could include large-scale systems such as universal childcare and preschool, mid-scale systems such as distributing emotional wellbeing assessments for parents during well child checkup visits, or small-scale systems such as providing educational opportunities regarding self-care offered through the workplace. By lessening the exhaustion felt by working parents, there could be a direct impact on parents’ ability to be both physically and emotionally present to their families. Supporting working parents could have a ripple effect that extends beyond their own perceptions. Limitations and Conclusion While this survey provided valuable information to a fairly new research topic, there were certainly limitations involved. The sample is limited in its ability to be generalizable to populations due the small sample size, lack of random selection, lack of a diverse demographic of participants, and the short-time period that the survey was available. Additionally, there is a chance that the data was skewed due to the mental and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample that was homogenous in parental status and dual-income, but heterogeneous in other factors such as age, number of children, and ethnicity would have provided a far broader population to analyze. Additionally, future research could include a measure directly containing items for role conflict. It would also be ideal to be able to conduct interviews directly with couples to further understand the perspectives of this unique population. It would also be ideal to study in greater depth how parental burnout and relationship status interact. Lastly, this research relied on an online survey tool, Qualtrics, which could result in those without easy access to technology to not be able to participate in this study. Despite the previously mentioned limitations, this research study is contributing to a growing body of research relating to mental load, role conflict, and parental burnout. The data gathered from the study provides valuable research about a specific group. Parents around the world are making an uncountable amount of decisions throughout this stage of life. Parents must make tough choices in parenting, managing their home, and in their careers. Rather than judge why parents make certain decisions, we can instead trust that they are working with the best intentions and find out how parents can be better supported as they balance an innumerable number of roles. Further understanding how mental load, role conflict, hours in paid work, social class, and number of children in the home impact parental feelings of burnout will provide great benefit to this population. References Adams, M. (2016). Divisions of Household Labor. In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosd081.pub2 Ahmad, A. (2008). Job, family, and individual factors as predictors of work-family conflict. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning. Retrieved from http://www.hraljournal.com/Page/8%20Aminah%20Ahmad1.pdf Allegretto, S. A. (2006). Basic family budgets: Working families' incomes often fail to meet living expenses around the United States. International Journal of Health Services, 36(3), 443-454. American Time Use Survey. (2020). American Time Use Survey Summary. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm Anderson, S., Coffey, B., & Byerly, R. (2002). Formal organizational initiatives and informal workplace practices: Links to work-life conflict and job-related outcomes. Journal of Management, 28(6), 787−810. Blair-Loy, Mary. 2003. Competing Devotions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Borelli, J. L., Nelson-Coffey, S. K., River, L. M., Birken, S. A., & Moss-Racusin, C. (2017). Bringing work home: gender and parenting correlates of work-family guilt among parents of toddlers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(6), 1734–1745. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0693-9. Boye, K. (2014) Dual-Earner Couples/Dual-Career Couples. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_784 Brannen, J., & Cernigoj, N. S. (2013). Being a working parent in the present: Case comparisons in time and place. Transitions to parenthood in Europe, 107. Braunstein-Bercovitz, H. (2013). A Multidimensional Mediating Model of Perceived Resource Gain, Work-Family Conflict Sources, and Burnout. International Journal of Stress Management, 20(2), 95–115. https://doi-org.hal.weber.edu/10.1037/a0032948 Christnacht, C., & Sullivan, B. (2021, March 12). The choices working mothers make. Retrieved April 26, 2021, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/05/the-choices-working-mothers make.html#:~:text=About%20Two%2Dthirds%20of%20the,Worked%20Full%2DTime%20in%202018&text=Working%20mothers%20make%20up%20a,%25)%20of%20all%20employed%20women. Cohn, D., Livingston, G. & Wang, W. (2014). After Decades of Decline, A Rise in Stay-at-Home Mothers. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/04/08/chapter-3-how-do-mothers-spend-their-time-at-home/#:~:text=Working%20mothers'%20time%20at%20home,activities%20intended%20to%20generate%20income Goldin, C., Katz, L., & Kuziemko, I. (2006). The homecoming of American college women: The reversal of the college gender gap. Journal of Economic perspectives, 20(4), 133-156. Hochschild, A., & Machung, A. (2012). The second shift: Working families and the revolution at home. Penguin. Kalliath, T., & Brough, P. (2008). Work–life balance: A review of the meaning of the balance construct. Journal of management & organization, 14(3), 323-327. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paula-Brough/publication/305886414_Achieving_work-life_balance/links/582e9fb508ae102f072dc043/Achieving-work-life-balance.pdf Lino, M. (2020). The Cost of Raising a Child. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/01/13/cost-raising-child Maclean, E., Andrew, B. & Eivers, A. The Motherload: Predicting Experiences of Work- Interfering-with-Family Guilt in Working Mothers. J Child Fam Stud 30, 169–181 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01852-9 Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W., & Leiter, M. (2001). Job burnout. Annual review of psychology, 52(1), 397-422. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397 Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J., & Roskam, I. (2019). Parental Burnout: What Is It and Why Does It Matter? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167702619858430 Mikolajczak, M., & Roskam, I. (2018). A theoretical and clinical framework for parental burnout: The Balance between Risks and Resources. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 886. Offer, S. (2014). The Costs of Thinking About Work and Family: Mental Labor, Work–Family Spillover, and Gender Inequality Among Parents in Dual-Earner Families. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 29, No. 4). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shira-Offer/publication/269041733_The_Costs_of_Thinking_About_Work_and_Family_Mental_Labor_Work-Family_Spillover_and_Gender_Inequality_Among_Parents_in_Dual-Earner_Families/links/5a036130aca272b06ca26668/The-Costs-of-Thinking-About-Work-and-Family-Mental-Labor-Work-Family-Spillover-and-Gender-Inequality-Among-Parents-in-Dual-Earner-Families.pdf Population Reference Bureau. (2001). Record number of women in the U.S. labor force. https://www.prb.org/resources/record-number-of-women-in-the-u-s-labor-force/ Raising kids and running a household: how working parents share parenting and household responsibilities. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/11/04/raising-kids-and-running-a-household-how-working-parents-share-the-load/ Trockel, M., Bohman, B., Lesure, E., Hamidi, M. S., Welle, D., Roberts, L., & Shanafelt, T. (2018). A brief instrument to assess both burnout and professional fulfillment in physicians: reliability and validity, including correlation with self-reported medical errors, in a sample of resident and practicing physicians. Academic Psychiatry, 42(1), 11-24. U.S. Department of Labor. (2021). Employment characteristics of families – 2020. (USDL-21- 0695) Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf APPENDICES Appendix A: Work Exhaustion Measure Not true at all Very little Moderately Quite a bit Extremely A sense of dread when I think about work I have to do o o o o o Physically exhausted at work o o o o o Lacking in enthusiasm at work o o o o o Emotionally exhausted at work o o o o o Appendix B: Work Fulfillment Measure How true are the following statements about your experience(s) at work the past two weeks? Not true at all Somewhat true Moderately true Very true Completely true I feel happy at work o o o o o I feel worthwhile at work o o o o o My work is satisfying to me o o o o o I feel in control when dealing with difficult problems at work o o o o o My work is meaningful to me o o o o o I’m contributing professionally in the ways I value most o o o o o Appendix C: Parental Exhaustion Measure Answer how often the following prompts describe your feelings. Never A few times a year or less Once a month or less A few times a month Once a week A few times a week Every day I feel completely run down by my role as a parent o o o o o o o I'm so tired by my role as a parent that sleeping doesn't really seem like enough o o o o o o o I find it exhausting just thinking of everything I have to do for my child(ren) o o o o o o o Appendix D: Parental Burnout Measure Answer how often the following prompts describe your feelings. Never A few times a year or less Once a month or less A few times a month Once a week A few times a week Every day I tell myself I am no longer the parent I used to be o o o o o o o I am no longer proud of myself as a parent o o o o o o o I feel like I can't cope as a parent o o o o o o o Answer how much you agree or disagree with the following prompts. Strongly disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly agree I am happy in my role as a parent o o o o o There is little or nothing I wouldn't do for my child(ren) if it was necessary o o o o o Caring for my child(ren) sometimes takes more time and energy than I have to give o o o o o