The strain behind the smile: Temporal dynamics between parental burnout and emotional labor

Parents routinely engage in emotional labor to meet caregiving demands by faking emotions (surface acting) or by genuinely cultivating expected ones (deep acting). The association between emotional labor and parental burnout is an emerging question, yet predominantly cross-sectional evidence leaves directionality and temporal dynamics unclear. We therefore conducted two studies spanning different parent samples and timescales. Study 1 applied models from the cross-lagged panel family to a four-wave design with 4-month intervals among 1,373 U.S. parents of young adolescents. From an individual-differences perspective, surface acting and burnout were positively and reciprocally related, whereas the two emotional labor strategies were negatively so. From a within-person perspective, the only effect to emerge was that deep acting predicted lower subsequent surface acting. Study 2 applied dynamic structural equation modeling to a 35-day experience sampling design with 293 U.K. parents of younger children. Within parents, surface acting and burnout were positively and reciprocally related, burnout predicted more deep acting, and deep acting predicted less surface acting. Across parents, average levels during the experience sampling phase mediated baseline-to-follow-up associations for all constructs. We drew three conclusions. First, surface acting and parental burnout reinforce one another, whereas the effects of deep acting appear context-dependent. Second, timescale matters: Intensive longitudinal methods captured within-person processes that longer lagged panel designs missed. Third, patterns differed between our samples of parents of younger and older children, tentatively suggesting a developmental-stage influence; this finding needs confirmation before it can justify developmentally tailored family support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).