Emotional Fortification: Pediatricians as a Core Resource for Managing Parental Stress and Anxiety

“Consult your child’s pediatrician for guidance”—this is a refrain parents hear repeatedly. Drawing on 43 interviews with 11 pediatricians and 32 parents of minor children, I find that many parents turn to pediatric providers to help them resolve a wide range of everyday anxieties related to childrearing. Many pediatricians, in turn, view providing substantial emotional support to parents as a central component of their jobs. I conceptualize this dynamic as a process of “emotional fortification.” In working to emotionally fortify parents, pediatricians strive to foster a sense of calm and boost parental confidence. Through these interactions, parents can accumulate valuable emotional resources, including reduced stress and increased feelings of efficacy. Not all parents are equally positioned to reap these advantages, however. Here, I examine how emotional fortification, an undertheorized outcome of emotional labor, is sought and provided during pediatric health care encounters while considering how inequalities shape this process.