Study: Despite Many Uses, Social Media Not a Great Parenting Resource for Depressed Mothers

Parenting is widely considered the hardest job in the world. It is more challenging for women with postpartum depression (PPD), and new research shows social media can help but it is not the perfect answer. The study “Social Media-based Parenting Program for Women with Postpartum Depressive Symptoms: An RCT,” is published in the February 2023 issue of Pediatrics (published online Feb. 21). It was conducted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when maternal mental health distress was particularly high nationwide. Participants were new, predominantly Black non-Hispanic mothers with PPD symptoms. These symptoms adversely affect the mother-child relationship and contribute to parenting stress. Researchers developed a social media-based parenting program to enhance their parenting skills and improve parent-child interactions. Participants were encouraged to “friend” and respond to other member posts. Although the program led to a more rapid decline in PPD symptoms, the positive changes in responsive parenting, parenting stress, or parenting competence were at best modest. These results are consistent with previous group-based parenting programs that found short-term improvements in maternal depressive symptoms for up to 6 months. This new study highlights the need for greater attention to participant engagement and mental health treatment to improve parenting outcomes when providing assistance through social media-based programs.

###

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.