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Research indicates expectant and new mothers use the Internet, specifically social media, to gain information and support during the transition to parenthood. Although parents regularly share information about and photos of their child or children on Facebook, researchers have neither explored the use of Facebook to share pregnancy-related information nor investigated factors that influence such sharing.
The aim of this study was to address a gap in the literature by exploring the use of Facebook by pregnant women. Specifically, the study examined the use of Facebook to share pregnancy-related information, as well as any association between prenatal attachment and the aforementioned aspects of sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook.
Pregnant women who were at least 18 years of age were recruited for participation in the study through posts and paid advertisements on Facebook and posts to professional organization listservs. Individuals interested in participating were directed to a secure Web-based survey system where they completed the consent form and the survey that focused on their current pregnancy. Participants completed the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale and answered questions that assessed how often they shared pregnancy-related information on Facebook, who they shared it with, why they shared it, and what they shared.
A total of 117 pregnant women completed the survey. Descriptive statistics indicated that the pregnancy announcement was most commonly shared (75/108, 69.4%), with most women sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook less than monthly (52/117, 44.4%) with only family and friends (90/116, 77.6% and 91/116, 78.4%, respectively) and for the purpose of involving others or sharing the experience (62/107, 57.9%). Correlation and regression analyses showed that prenatal attachment, in general, was positively and significantly related to all aspects of sharing pregnancy-related information at the
Pregnant women in this study used Facebook for a variety of reasons, demonstrating the use of the social media platform during pregnancy for supportive and informational purposes. Overall, the results of this study are likely to be useful to professionals who are seeking alternative methods for providing intervention, information, and support to pregnant women via social media in our technology-driven society.
The transition to parenthood, which begins at pregnancy and continues through the postpartum period, has been altered from decades past by the introduction of new technologies. In particular, medical technologies have provided expectant parents with videos and pictures they can use to introduce their unborn child to others before the birth. Internet technologies have further shaped the transition to parenthood by providing means through which expectant and new parents can share information about their experiences and their unborn child or newborn with family, friends, and acquaintances. According to McDaniel et al, “new mothers appear to be immersed in new age media, such as blogging and social networking,” yet, “research on mothers’ media use is still in its infancy” [
The Pew Research Center began tracking the use of social media sites in 2005 [
The Internet, and subsequently social media, has changed the way in which we search for and gather information. In fact, according to Daniels and Wedler, “information seeking through the Internet has become one of the easiest ways to learn about health-related information” [
Social media also serves a supportive function for expectant and new parents. Duggan et al [
Finally, social media appears to facilitate bonding and connections for expectant and new parents [
Parental use of social media sites appears to vary by pregnancy status, gender, and age of the parent. In particular, women pregnant for the first time are more likely to use social media than multiparous women [
As the earliest conceptualization, the definition of prenatal attachment has evolved from encompassing maternal behaviors indicative of the mother’s affiliation toward and interaction with her unborn child [
Most relevant to this study, Condon and Corkindale [
Despite the various conceptualizations of the construct, research consistently indicates that prenatal attachment increases over the course of the pregnancy [
Although parent-child attachment, during the postpartum period and later, typically receives more attention from researchers and interventionists, research has highlighted the importance of attachment during the prenatal period. In particular, researchers [
Although the associations between prenatal attachment and maternal behaviors during pregnancy have been investigated, the role of prenatal attachment in the mother’s representation of her unborn child to others has not been investigated. Furthermore, despite the importance of Facebook in parents’ lives, research on expectant parents’ use of Facebook to share pregnancy-related information is lacking. More specifically, to date, researchers have not investigated a potential relationship between prenatal maternal attachment and pregnancy-related posts on social media. On the basis of the findings of previous research and the components of attachment, as identified by Condon and Corkindale [
Specifically, the study examined the use of Facebook to share information about pregnancy among pregnant women, as well as any association between prenatal attachment and sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook.
The following research questions (RQs) were explored in the study:
RQ1. What pregnancy-related information are pregnant women sharing on Facebook?
RQ2. With whom are they sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook?
RQ3. How often do they share pregnancy-related information on Facebook?
RQ4. Why do they share pregnancy-related information on Facebook?
In addition, the following hypotheses (Hs) were tested in the study:
H1. Prenatal attachment will be associated with frequency of sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook.
H2. Prenatal attachment will be associated with how many types of pregnancy-related information are shared on Facebook
H3. Prenatal attachment will be associated with the number of groups with whom pregnancy-related information is shared on Facebook
H4. Prenatal attachment will be associated with the reasons for sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook.
Upon receiving Human Subject Approval, pregnant women who were at least 18 years of age were recruited for participation in the study through posts to the researcher’s personal and research Facebook pages that were subsequently shared by others, paid advertisements on Facebook that were targeted to pregnancy-related groups and pages, and posts to listservs of the researcher’s national professional organization. Individuals interested in participating were directed through the announcement to the secure Web-based survey system utilized by the university where they completed the consent form and the survey. In addition to the consent form, the survey consisted of one page of demographic questions, one page of questions assessing the use of Facebook to share pregnancy-related information, and one page of questions comprising the attachment scale for a total of 41 questions. To facilitate completion and expedite movement through the survey, question condition settings were included to automatically skip questions that were not relevant to participants. Due to university human subject stipulations, participants were allowed to exit the survey at any time and skip any questions in the survey with the exception of indicating their consent, or lack thereof, to participate on the consent form. Participants were instructed to complete the survey with their current pregnancy as the focus of their answers. The survey was open and set for single response submission, without the capability to update responses after submission; although, participants were able to return to previous questions before submission.
Before data collection, the Web-based survey was pilot tested by four women known to the researcher—two of whom were pregnant and two who had recently given birth. Issues with survey formatting and word choice were resolved based on feedback provided from the pilot participants. In addition, the pilot participants provided the researcher with information concerning the time required for survey completion, which was subsequently used for the time-to-complete estimate provided on the consent form.
Frequency of sharing information, types of information shared, with whom information was shared, and reasons for sharing information were the dependent variables in this study. Each was measured with closed-ended questions on the survey.
Participants indicated how often they posted pregnancy-related information to Facebook during the current pregnancy by choosing one of the following options: (1) less than once per month, (2) once per month, (3) a few times per month, (4) once per week, (5) a few times per week, (6) once per day, or (7) more than once per day. The options were developed by the researcher using categories from the Bartholomew et al [
Participants indicated which of the following types of pregnancy-related information they had shared on Facebook during their current pregnancy by indicating “yes” or “no” for each type: (1) announcement of their pregnancy, (2) ultrasound pictures or videos of their unborn child, (3) announcement of their unborn child’s sex, (4) information about their pregnancy symptoms, (5) information about their preparation for the baby, (6) information about medical appointments, (7) information about the progression of the pregnancy, (8) information about pregnancy complications, and (9) information about the birth plans. These categories were developed by the researcher based on the researcher’s previous research with expectant parents and personal correspondence with pregnant women about the types of pregnancy-related information they shared with others. Each item was coded, with a 1 indicating the participant shared the information and 0 indicating the participant did not share the information on Facebook. Scores on the nine items were summed, with a higher score indicating the sharing of more types of pregnancy-related information on Facebook.
Participants indicated which of the following groups they shared pregnancy-related information with on Facebook: (1) only family, (2) only friends, (3) only friends and family, or (4) public (no restrictions on who could see the information). These categories were developed by the researcher, with the privacy settings available to Facebook users (public, friends, and customize) serving as the initial framework for the categories. A “yes” response to each category was coded as 1 and a “no” response coded as 0. Scores for the four groups were summed to gain a
Participants indicated the reasons they posted pregnancy-related information to Facebook by indicating which of the following options applied to them: (1) to share excitement, (2) to document pregnancy, (3) to get advice, (4) to involve others in the pregnancy, (5) to issue a prayer request, and (6) others expected them to share it. The response options were developed by the researcher, utilizing reasons cited in literature and from personal correspondence with pregnant women. A response of “yes” for an item was coded as 1, whereas a “no” response was coded as 0. Subsequent factor analysis was performed on the six reasons for sharing information, with the following four categories of reasons identified: (1) getting advice, (2) issue prayer request, (3) involve others or share experience, and (4) expected to.
Prenatal attachment served as the independent variable in the study. In addition, demographic variables were treated as controls in the analyses.
Prenatal attachment was assessed with the 19-item Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS) [
Participants provided the following information: (1) age (5 categories), (2) parity status (first pregnancy vs not first pregnancy), (3) knowledge of fetal sex (yes or no), (4) weeks currently pregnant (6 categories), and (5) planned pregnancy (yes, no). Specific categories for the control variables that appeared on the survey are listed in
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 (IBM Corp) was used for all analyses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data for research questions 1 to 4. Correlations (Pearson, Spearman rho) were used to test hypotheses 1 to 4, with multiple and binomial logistic regression used to test for associations between the independent and dependent variables when controlling for the other variables and demographic variables (participant’s age, first pregnancy status, knowledge of fetal sex, number of weeks pregnant, and planning of the pregnancy). Only the attachment subscales (preoccupation and quality), and not the overall prenatal attachment scores, were included in the regression analyses to reduce multicollinearity between the overall scale and subscale scores.
There were 5395 clicks on the survey link during the 7-month data collection period. From those clicks, 218 individuals consented to participate in the study, and a total of 117 pregnant women completed the Web-based survey. The sample was predominately white (90/109, 82.6%), married (85/110, 77.3%), college educated (74/113, 65.5%), and in the age range of 26 to 29 years (42/114, 36.8%). In addition, almost half of the women were pregnant for the first time (56/113, 49.6%), most of the pregnancies were planned (76/113, 67.3%), and the most common category for weeks pregnant was 27 to 33 weeks (46/113, 40.7%). See
The mean on the overall attachment scale was 75.68 (SD 7.655; range: 49-88.70). The mean on the preoccupation (strength) subscale was 28.66 (SD 4.967; range: 15-38.70), and the mean for the quality subscale was 42.38 (SD 3.569; range: 20.41-47).
The most common type of information shared on Facebook was the pregnancy announcement (75/108, 69.4%), followed by sharing pregnancy progress (57/110, 51.8%), and announcing the fetus’ sex (55/111, 49.5%). The least common type of information shared was birth plans (7/116, 6.0%). See
Friends and family were the most common recipients of the pregnancy-related information posted to Facebook. Over 75% of the women shared information with friends (91/116, 78.4%) and family (90/116, 77.6%). The women were less likely to share with individuals they did not know personally (
The majority of the participants posted pregnancy-related information relatively infrequently, with 44.4% (52/117) indicating they posted information related to their current pregnancy less than once per month, followed by sharing a few times per month (18.8%, 22/117). A smaller percentage of women shared information a few times per week, with even fewer sharing pregnancy-related information on a daily basis (
When considering all six of the reasons for sharing, the most common reason was to share the excitement of the pregnancy with others (57.9%, 62/107), followed by the desire to document the pregnancy (31.3%, 35/112), and get advice (28.9%, 33/114). The least common reason for sharing was feeling pressured by others to share the information (
Demographic information.
Demographic characteristics | n (%) | |
18-21 | 12 (10.7) | |
22-25 | 19 (16.7) | |
26-29 | 42 (36.8) | |
30-33 | 29 (25.4) | |
34-39 | 9 (7.9) | |
40-44 | 1 (0.9) | |
≥45 | 0 (0.0) | |
White | 90 (82.6) | |
Black | 8 (7.3) | |
Hispanic or Latino | 4 (3.7) | |
Native American | 1 (0.9) | |
Asian or Pacific Islander | 5 (4.6) | |
Other | 1 (0.9) | |
<30,000 | 25 (22.7) | |
30,000-49,999 | 17 (15.5) | |
50,000-74,999 | 20 (18.2) | |
75,000-99,999 | 18 (16.4) | |
>100,000 | 30 (27.2) | |
Less than high school | 3 (2.7) | |
High school or general equivalency diploma | 14 (12.4) | |
Some college or vocational training | 22 (19.5) | |
Associate degree | 3 (2.7) | |
Bachelor’s degree | 37 (32.7) | |
Master’s degree | 23 (20.4) | |
Doctorate degree | 11 (9.7) | |
Single, never married | 19 (17.3) | |
Divorced | 3 (2.7) | |
Separated | 2 (1.8) | |
Widowed | 1 (0.9) | |
Married | 85 (77.3) | |
Under 13 weeks | 5 (4.4) | |
13 to 19 weeks | 16 (14.2) | |
20 to 26 weeks | 16 (14.2) | |
27 to 33 weeks | 46 (40.7) | |
34 to 40 weeks | 29 (25.7) | |
Over 40 weeks | 1 (0.9) |
Sharing pregnancy-related information.
Category of sharing behavior | n (%) | |
Pregnancy announcement | 75 (69.4) | |
Pregnancy progress | 57 (51.8) | |
Sex of fetus | 55 (49.5) | |
Ultrasound pictures | 46 (39.3) | |
Pregnancy symptoms | 36 (32.1) | |
Preparation for baby | 33 (29.2) | |
Medical appointments | 17 (15.0) | |
Pregnancy complications | 14 (12.2) | |
Birth plans | 7 (6.0) | |
Friends | 91 (78.4) | |
Family | 90 (77.6) | |
Friends of friends | 15 (12.9) | |
Everyone | 7 (6.0) | |
Less than monthly | 52 (44.4) | |
Once per month | 11 (9.4) | |
Few times per month | 22 (18.8) | |
Once per week | 8 (6.8) | |
Few times per week | 16 (13.7) | |
Once per day | 6 (5.1) | |
More than once each day | 2 (1.7) | |
Share excitement | 62 (57.9) | |
Document pregnancy | 35 (31.3) | |
Get advice | 33 (28.9) | |
Involve others | 19 (17.0) | |
Issue prayer request | 18 (15.9) | |
Others expected it | 9 (7.8) |
Results of Pearson’s correlations indicated that overall prenatal attachment and the quality and preoccupation subscales were positively and significantly associated with
Using the enter method of multiple regression, the control variables and quality and preoccupation subscale scores were entered in the equation. Results indicated that the age of participants was found to be a significant predictor, and the preoccupation subscale retained significance after controlling for other variables (
Overall, prenatal attachment and the two subscales (preoccupation and quality) were significantly associated with sharing
The enter method of multiple regression was used to test the associations after controlling for other variables. Results indicated that the preoccupation subscale, age, and weeks pregnant were significant contributors to the model, with those who were more preoccupied with their unborn child, younger, and further along in their pregnancies sharing more types of information (
Analysis with Pearson correlation revealed that overall prenatal attachment and the preoccupation subscale were significantly associated with sharing pregnancy-related information with
The enter method of multiple regression model was again used to test associations between prenatal attachment and number of groups with whom information was shared while controlling for other variables. Age and preoccupation with the unborn baby were significant contributors to the model (
Correlations between independent and dependent variables.
Variables | Prenatal attachment | Preoccupation attachment subscale | Quality attachment subscale |
Frequency shared | .338a | .308a | .228a |
Total types shared | .332a | .360a | .194b |
Groups shared with | .248a | .338a | .050 |
Share pregnancy | .338a | .274a | .303a |
Get advice | .236b | .277a | .091 |
Prayer request | .251a | .238a | .163 |
Expected to | −.135 | −.096 | −.177 |
aCorrelation significant at the .01 level.
bCorrelation significant at the .05 level.
Multiple regression results for hypothesis 1 (frequency of sharing; N=108;
Variable | B (SE) | Beta | |||
Constant | 1.349 (2.366) | N/A | 0.570 | .57 | |
Age | −.488 (0.149) | −.336 | −3.286 | .001 | |
Number of children | .358 (0.230) | .194 | 1.556 | .12 | |
Fetal sex | −.428 (0.433) | −.105 | −0.98 | .32 | |
Weeks pregnant | −.050 (0.079) | −.065 | −0.625 | .53 | |
Planned pregnancy | .012 (0.350) | .003 | 0.035 | .97 | |
First pregnancy | .438 (0.416) | .131 | 1.055 | .29 | |
Preoccupation (attachment) | .090 (0.035) | .262 | 2.554 | .01 | |
Quality (attachment) | −.010 (0.054) | −.021 | −0.185 | .85 |
aDegrees of freedom for
Multiple regression results hypothesis 2 (number of types of information shared; N=105;
Variable | B (SE) | Beta | |||
Constant | −2.815 (3.308) | N/A | −.851 | .4 | |
Age | −.717 (0.208) | −.337 | −3.454 | .001 | |
Number of children | .474 (0.322) | .174 | 1.471 | .14 | |
Fetal sex | −.735 (0.610) | −.121 | −1.206 | .23 | |
Weeks pregnant | .328 (0.111) | .291 | 2.940 | .004 | |
Planned pregnancy | .378 (0.500) | .072 | 0.756 | .45 | |
First pregnancy | .552 (0.581) | .112 | 0.949 | .35 | |
Preoccupation (attachment) | .129 (0.050) | .254 | 2.605 | .01 | |
Quality (attachment) | .038 (0.076) | .053 | 0.498 | .62 |
aDegrees of freedom for
Multiple regression hypothesis 3 (groups with whom information shared; N=107;
Variable | B (SE) | Beta | |||
Constant | 1.570 (2.344) | N/A | 0.670 | .51 | |
Age | −.348 (0.150) | −.233 | −2.313 | .02 | |
Number of children | .137 (0.234) | .072 | 0.585 | .56 | |
Fetal sex | −.127 (0.442) | −.030 | −0.287 | .77 | |
Weeks pregnant | −.052 (0.080) | −.066 | −0.641 | .52 | |
Planned pregnancy | −.586 (0.355) | −.161 | −1.649 | .10 | |
First pregnancy | .175 (0.421) | -.051 | -.415 | .68 | |
Preoccupation (attachment) | .125 (0.036) | .350 | 3.467 | .001 | |
Quality (attachment) | −.016 (0.055) | −.032 | −0.285 | .77 |
aDegrees of freedom for
Pearson correlation results indicated that overall prenatal attachment and the preoccupation and quality of attachment subscales were significantly and positively associated with sharing information to
Spearman rho correlational analysis indicated that, overall, prenatal attachment and the preoccupation attachment subscale were significantly and positively associated with sharing to
Results of Spearman rho analysis showed that overall prenatal attachment and the preoccupation attachment subscale were significantly, positively associated with sharing pregnancy-related information to
Multiple regression results hypothesis 4 (sharing to involve or share experience; N=101;
Variable | B (SE) | Beta | |||
Constant | −4.427 (1.998) | N/A | −2.216 | .03 | |
Age | −.319 (0.126) | −.266 | −2.533 | .01 | |
Number of children | .172 (0.192) | .114 | 0.896 | .37 | |
Fetal sex | −.037 (0.372) | −.011 | −0.099 | .92 | |
Weeks pregnant | .146 (0.070) | .229 | 2.084 | .04 | |
Planned pregnancy | −.097 (0.297) | −.327 | −0.327 | .74 | |
First pregnancy | .049 (0.350) | .139 | 0.139 | .89 | |
Preoccupation (attachment) | .034 (0.030) | .119 | 1.132 | .26 | |
Quality (attachment) | .121 (0.046) | .304 | 2.654 | .009 |
aDegrees of freedom for
Logistic regression results for hypothesis 4 (sharing to get advice; N=108; χ28=7.5,
Variable | B (SE) | Wald chi-squarea | ||
Constant | −2.439 (3.595) | 0.5 | .497 | |
Age | −.325 (0.237) | 1.9 | .17 | |
Number of children | −.135 (0.376) | 0.1 | .72 | |
Fetal sex | −.404 (0.666) | 0.4 | .54 | |
Weeks pregnant | .197 (0.130) | 2.3 | .13 | |
Planned pregnancy | .504 (0.539) | 0.9 | .35 | |
First pregnancy | .359 (0.654) | 0.3 | .497 | |
Preoccupation (attachment) | .138 (0.060) | 5.3 | .02 | |
Quality (attachment) | −.056 (0.087) | 0.4 | .52 |
aDegrees of freedom for Wald chi-square=8.
Finally, results of Spearman rho analysis indicated that none of the attachment scores were significantly associated with sharing because of the
The women who participated in the study reported sharing pregnancy-related information relatively infrequently on Facebook. In fact, the majority of the women reported sharing the information less than monthly, with less than 7% of the women sharing information on a daily basis. This finding contradicts that of previous research that indicated 75% of parents [
The findings of this research also showed that the women voluntarily shared pregnancy-related information with a rather select group of individuals, namely their friends and family on Facebook. Overall, very few shared because of the expectations of others, and few shared with individuals they did not know (ie, friends of friends and everyone on Facebook). The most common reasons for sharing the information fit the overall category of sharing to involve others or share the excitement of the pregnancy. By sharing information about their pregnancy, unborn child, and preparations, they were providing others access to their pregnancy experience and enhancing connections with others during their pregnancy in their role as an expectant mother. Therefore, the findings appear to support researcher assertions that social media use facilitates connection for pregnant women [
Aside from the aforementioned reasons, posting to gain advice from others was the third most common reason for sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook, with one-third of the sample reporting this reason. This finding corresponds to previous research documenting the value of social media as an information-gathering tool [
The four types of pregnancy-related information most commonly shared on Facebook by the women in this study were the pregnancy announcement, information about the progression of the pregnancy, the sex of their unborn child, and ultrasound photos. In general, these findings support Johnson’s [
In general, the findings regarding sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook provide support for the family-building capabilities of technology. Although past research indicated that prenatal technology assisted with introducing an unborn child as a member of the family and building an identity for the unborn child in the family [
This is the first study to investigate the role of prenatal attachment with respect to pregnant women sharing information about their pregnancy on Facebook, with results indicating that prenatal attachment is positively related to sharing pregnancy-related information. To begin, results of correlational analyses showed that prenatal attachment, in general, was positively and significantly related to all aspects of sharing pregnancy-related information, with the exception of sharing because of expectations. Thus, pregnant women who were more attached to their unborn child were more likely to voluntarily post information related to their pregnancy or unborn child on Facebook. More specifically, before controlling for other variables, the preoccupation component of prenatal attachment was significantly and positively associated with all aspects of sharing, again with the exception of sharing because of others’ expectations. This finding makes intuitive sense. One would expect that a pregnant woman who possesses a stronger attachment to her unborn child, meaning she spends more time thinking about and has stronger feelings for her unborn child, would post more pregnancy-related information on Facebook than a pregnant woman who spends less time preoccupied with her unborn child.
These findings may also be interpreted in relation to the concept of maternal identity or, more specifically, maternal identify confirmation. According to Allen and Hawkins, maternal identity confirmation is the “desire for the external validation of the maternal role” [
Overall, the findings of this study indicate that, when considering the two subscales of attachment used in this study, the
Similarly, it may also be that the pregnant women who were more preoccupied with their unborn child possess a personality trait, or other characteristic, that played a role in their sharing behavior, as well as their tendency to be more preoccupied with their unborn child. Neuroticism, which involves anxiety and worry, is one such trait that may moderate the relationship between prenatal attachment and sharing of pregnancy-related information on Facebook. Although research on personality types and social media use during pregnancy is lacking, there is evidence to suggest that the personality trait of neuroticism is positively related to Facebook activity among adults [
Though not a specific focus of this research, findings related to the control variables are worthy of mention. Specifically, in the regression analyses, weeks pregnant and age were significantly associated with aspects of sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook. Age was negatively and significantly associated with frequency of sharing, number of types of information shared, number of groups with whom information was shared, and sharing to involve others. These findings confirm prior research that indicated a negative correlation between Facebook use and age among the general population and parents [
Despite its contributions to existing literature, this study was not without limitations. To begin, the sample size was relatively small and homogenous with regard to demographic characteristics. This may have impacted the strength of the relationships between the variables, while also limiting the generalizability of the findings. Paid advertisements were posted to groups on Facebook, with target recipients representing diverse demographics. Yet, the sample was predominately white, married, and college educated. The Facebook posts advertising the study likely played a role in the homogenous sample characteristics, as individuals may have subsequently shared the post with friends and family who possessed similar demographic characteristics. In addition, the pregnant women who participated in the study were also a self-selected group who may have possessed a stronger interest in or deterrence to Facebook than the average pregnant woman. Future research would benefit from utilizing additional recruitment methods that are more enticing and accessible to a wider diversity of individuals. In particular, face-to-face and nonsocial media–related recruitment may reach a more diverse group of women. In addition, overall participation and survey completion may have been increased, resulting in a larger sample size, if an incentive had been offered to participants who completed the survey.
Aside from sample characteristics, there were additional limitations to this study which are worthy of note. As previously discussed, the women were not asked
Finally, the timing of data collection may represent a limitation of the study. Participants were required to reflect upon their use of Facebook during their pregnancy. Recall error may have occurred when reporting how often, what types, and reasons for sharing pregnancy-related information on Facebook. In fact, Moore and McElroy encouraged researchers to use “actual Facebook data where possible and rely on survey data for information that cannot be obtained objectively” [
The results of this study fill a gap in our knowledge about pregnant women’s use of Facebook to share information about their pregnancy, as well as the role of prenatal attachment in such sharing. The findings supplement previous research linking prenatal attachment to healthy behaviors and self-care by also showing a link between prenatal attachment and sharing information about one’s unborn child and pregnancy via social media. Although one certainly cannot endorse or encourage assessing prenatal attachment through Facebook posts, the results of this study are valuable in terms of the additional insight provided regarding associations between prenatal attachment and maternal behaviors.
Perhaps equally, or more, important to our existing knowledge are the descriptive findings of this study and their implications. The pregnant women in this study used Facebook to share pregnancy-related information for a variety of reasons, demonstrating the use of the social media platform during pregnancy for relational, supportive, and informational purposes. In particular, the findings support the suggestion of Bartholomew et al that “conceptions of new parents’ social support networks need to be expanded to include the online environment in addition to family, friends, and community members that new parents may see face to face” [
hypothesis
research question
None declared.