From marital separation and divorce to parental burnout: an exploration of risk factors and potential mechanisms

Divorce (or marital separation) is a challenging family transition, especially for parents, who must adjust to new financial, emotional, and parenting demands, often with reduced resources. These stressors may heighten the risk of parental burnout, a chronic stress syndrome stemming from a sustained imbalance between parenting pressures and resources. This mixed-method study combines a cross-sectional survey and qualitative interviews to assess the prevalence of burnout, identify high-risk profiles linked to divorce-specific variables, examine individual and relational mechanisms, and clarify the specificities of the balance between risks and resources in the context of divorce. The goal is to inform clinical support.