Unwrapping the Dynamics of Parental Burnout and Genuine Expression During the Festive Season: A Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The Christmas season is an emotionally charged period that offers a valuable time window to study affective dynamics in parenting. This study adopted a within-person lens to unwrap parental burnout and genuine emotional expression, focusing on their interplay and dynamic patterns –inertia, variability, and person-specific mean – during this period. Using the experience sampling method (ESM), we conducted a 35-day real-time study with 293 U.K. parents (14,451 observations), supplemented by baseline and follow-up assessments. Dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) was used to test reciprocal within-person relations between both constructs over time, to assess individual differences in dynamic patterns, and to explore whether these patterns played a mediating role in changes from baseline to follow-up. Results revealed a unidirectional association from parental burnout to genuine expression. Individual differences were found in inertia, variability, and person-specific mean levels for both constructs. Notably, these person-specific mean levels mediated the links between baseline and follow-up levels of parental burnout and genuine expression. These findings offer novel insights into how short-term dynamics in parental burnout and genuine expression shape longer-term affective (mal)adjustment. They highlight the importance of personalized, real-time interventions that target emotional regulation and burnout recovery in parents, particularly during emotionally intense periods such as the holiday season.