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Personality moderates associations between personal time and parental well-being
1Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada. theresa_pauly@sfu.ca.
Communications Psychology
|January 12, 2026
Summary
Daily personal time improves well-being for midlife parents. Taking time for yourself boosts positive emotions, reduces negative emotions, and aids stress recovery, especially for those high in neuroticism and openness.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Stress Research
Background:
- Midlife parents face significant daily demands.
- Parenting stress can negatively impact affective well-being and physiological stress responses.
- The role of personal time in mitigating these effects is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between daily personal time and affective well-being in midlife parents.
- To examine the relationship between daily personal time and diurnal cortisol patterns.
- To explore whether personality traits moderate these associations.
Main Methods:
- 318 midlife parents completed daily diaries for up to 8 days.
- Saliva samples were collected up to 4 times/day for 4 days for cortisol analysis.
- Multilevel modeling was used to analyze within-person associations, controlling for daily stress.
Main Results:
- Personal time was linked to higher positive affect and lower negative affect.
- Personal time was associated with steeper diurnal cortisol slopes, indicating better stress recovery.
- The benefits of personal time on negative affect and cortisol slopes were more pronounced in parents with higher neuroticism and openness.
Conclusions:
- Daily personal time is a valuable resource for midlife parents, promoting emotional renewal and stress recovery.
- Personality traits, particularly neuroticism and openness, can influence the impact of personal time on well-being and stress.
- Encouraging personal time may be a key strategy for supporting the mental health of parents.
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