Would the mindful parenting of the father and mother affect each other's parenting burnout? The mediating role of co-parenting

Objectives: This study examined whether mindful parenting in fathers and mothers is associated with reduced parenting burnout through the mediating role of co-parenting, using a dyadic analytical approach. It also investigated differences between parents in levels of mindful parenting, co-parenting, and parenting burnout.Method: Participants were 283 parental dyads of children aged 3 to 6 years. Data were analyzed using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and its mediational extension (APIMeM) within a structural equation modeling framework.Results: Mothers reported higher levels of mindful parenting and co-parenting than fathers, whereas fathers reported higher burnout than mothers. Significant actor effects were found from mindful parenting to parenting burnout for both parents. Additionally, fathers’ co-parenting mediated the relationship between fathers’ mindful parenting and fathers’ burnout, and mothers’ co-parenting mediated the relationship between parental mindful parenting and mothers’ burnout.Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of mindful parenting and co-parenting in reducing parenting burnout and underscore the interdependence of these constructs within parent dyads.