Opportunities, From the Editors

Call for papers: Parental stress and wellbeing

This Collection welcomes original research studies that seek to alleviate parental stress and promote family wellbeing.

Collection Overview

Scientific Reports has launched a Guest-Edited Collection on Parental stress and wellbeing.

Parental stress may be expressed through emotional, physical, and psychological symptoms, such as irritability, frustration, exhaustion, anxiety and depression. Common stressors of parenting include time scarcity, financial obligations, child behaviour problems, and family conflicts. Studies that investigate strategies to mitigate parental stress to help improve parents’ and children’s wellbeing and the quality of family life are lacking.

This will be a Collection of original research papers and will be open for submissions from all authors – on the condition that the manuscripts fall within the scope of the Collection and of Scientific Reports more generally. We are welcoming submissions until 19th August 2026.

Why is this Collection important? 

"Often described as "the hardest job in the world," parenting is an important part of many people's lives. Parental stress impacts parents themselves and can also have an detrimental impact on the future generation. This Collection brings together multiple disciplines and fields to consider how to best support parental wellbeing. " - Dr. BreAnne Danzi

Why submit to a Collection? 

Collections like this one help promote high-quality science. They are led by Guest Editors, who are experts in their fields, and In-House Editors and are supported by a dedicated team of Commissioning Editors and Managing Editors at Springer Nature. Collection manuscripts typically see higher citations, downloads, and Altmetric scores, and provide a one-stop-shop on a cutting-edge topic of interest. 

Who is involved? 

Guest Editors:

  • BreAnne Danzi, The University of South Dakota, United States
  • Mark V. Flinn, Baylor University, United States

Internal Team:

  • In-House Editor: Petroula Mousikou, Scientific Reports, Germany
  • Commissioning Editor: Stuart Weir, Fully OA Brands, Springer Nature, UK
  • Managing Editor: Rebecca Chan, Fully OA Brands, Springer Nature, UK

How can I submit my paper? 

Visit the Collection page  to find out more about this Collection and how to submit your article.