Parental burnout is a state that parents feel exhausted in their parental role. Although past research has examined concurrent correlates of parental burnout, the impacts of parental burnout on adolescent development over time remain largely unknown. The current study explored the indirect mechanisms linking mothers' parental burnout to adolescents' later internalizing and externalizing problems through maternal hostility among Chinese families. Using a sample of 606 adolescents (51.5% boys; M_age = 12.89 years old) and their mothers (M_age = 38.50 years old), this three-wave longitudinal study showed that mothers' parental burnout was predictive of adolescents' perceptions of their mothers' parental hostility over time, which were in turn related to adolescents' later internalizing and externalizing problems. Moreover, mothers' parental burnout was directly related to adolescents' later externalizing problems. Taken together, parental burnout played a role in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems over time through increased parental hostility. These findings underscore the importance of parental burnout on parenting behavior and adolescent adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Despite growing research on neurobiological development, little attention has been paid to cultural and ethnic variation in neurodevelopmental processes. We present an overview of the current state of developmental cognitive neuroscience with respect to its attention to cultural issues. Analyses based on 80 publications represented in five recent meta-analyses related to adolescent developmental neuroscience show that 99% of the publications used samples in Western countries. Only 22% of studies provided a detailed description of participants’ racial/ethnic background, and only 18% provided for socioeconomic status. Results reveal a trend in developmental cognitive neuroscience research: The body of research is derived not only mostly from Western samples but also from participants whose race/ethnicity is unknown. To achieve a holistic perspective on brain development in different cultural contexts, we propose and highlight an emerging interdisciplinary approach—developmental cultural neuroscience—the intersection of developmental psychology, cultural psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Developmental cultural neuroscience aims to elucidate cultural similarities and differences in neural processing across the life span. We call attention to the importance of incorporating culture into the empirical investigation of neurodevelopment.

School reopening during COVID-19 can be a particularly stressful transition for many adolescents. However, little is known about the impact of parent-child relationships on adolescents' mental health during this transition. Using a 2-wave longitudinal design, this research examined the role of parent-child conflict and intimacy in adolescents' psychological distress after school reopening. Immediately before school reopening, 879 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.14 years, 51% girls) reported on their parent-child conflict and intimacy. They also reported on their depressive symptoms and anger problems before and 3 months after school reopening. Youth who reported higher levels of parent-child conflict and lower levels of parent-child intimacy before school reopening were more likely to show increased depressive symptoms and anger problems over time. Moreover, the moderating role of parent-child conflict and intimacy in the link between youth's perceived stress toward school reopening and psychological distress was investigated. Specifically, parent-child conflict moderated the impact of youth's perceived stress on their psychological distress, such that greater perceived stress was only linked with more psychological distress over time in families with higher levels of parent-child conflict, but not in families with lower levels of parent-child conflict. Taken together, the findings highlight the important role of parent-child relationships in shaping adolescent's mental health as they return to school, which provides key insights into reducing adolescents' psychological distress during the transition of school reopening in COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all societies worldwide. The heightened levels of stress that accompanied the crisis were also expected to affect parenting in many families. Since it is known that high levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to a condition that has severe consequences for health and well-being, we examined whether the prevalence of parental burnout in 26 countries (9,923 parents; 75% mothers; mean age 40) increased during COVID-19 compared to few years before the pandemic. In most (but not all) countries, analyses showed a significant increase in the prevalence of parental burnout during the pandemic. The results further revealed that next to governmental measures (e.g., number of days locked down, homeschooling) and factors at the individual and family level (e.g., gender, number of children), parents in less (vs. more) indulgent countries suffered more from parental burnout. The findings suggest that stricter norms regarding their parenting roles and duties in general and during the pandemic in particular might have increased their levels of parental burnout.