The transition to motherhood brings many challenges as women simultaneously adjust to several changes. Understanding the common themes, social support, and conversations that take place within online peer groups is critical in our technologically driven society. The study utilizes both machine learning and qualitative approaches to analyze 796 threads related to support written by Reddit users. Common themes found related to pressure on baby care/visitation during COVID-19, child care, child health/development, self-identity/self-esteem, and challenges related to the prenatal/postpartum period. In addition, mothers sought both emotional and informational support across all subreddits. These results suggest that online peer groups in which mothers can disclose events, challenges, and emotions may help reduce feelings of isolation and enable the exchange of support between new mothers.
AbufheleA.NareaM.TeliasA. (2022). The Covid-19 pandemic and maternal mental health: A longitudinal study of Chilean and foreign-born mothers. International Journal of Public Health, 67, 1604724. https://doi.org/10.3389/IJPH.2022.1604724
2.
AmmariT.SchoenebeckS.RomeroD. M. (2019). Self-declared throwaway accounts on Reddit. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3(CSCW), 135. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359237
3.
AndersonL. N. (2013). Functions of support group communication for women with postpartum depression: How support groups silence and encourage voices of motherhood. Journal of Community Psychology, 41(6), 709–724. https://doi.org/10.1002/JCOP.21566
4.
AnsteyE. H.CoulterM.JevittC. M.PerrinK. M.DabrowS.Klasko-FosterL. B.DaleyE. M. (2018). Lactation consultants’ perceived barriers to providing professional breastfeeding support. Journal of Human Lactation, 34(1), 51–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334417726305
5.
ArdenerS. (1975). Perceiving women. Malaby Press.
6.
Ben-AriO. T.ShlomoS.ben SivanE.DolizkiM. (2009). The transition to motherhood—A time for growth. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28(8), 943–970. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2009.28.8.943
7.
BennettS.IndmanP. (2019). Beyond the blues: Understanding and treating prenatal and postpartum depression & anxiety. Untreed Reads.
CollinsN. L.Dunkel-SchetterC.LobelM.ScrimshawS. C. (1993). Social support in pregnancy: Psychosocial correlates of birth outcomes and postpartum depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(6), 1243–1258. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.6.1243
10.
CutronaC. E. (1984). Social support and stress in the transition to parenthood. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93(4), 378–390. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.93.4.378
11.
DavidsonT.BhattacharyaD. (2020). Examining racial bias in an online abuse corpus with structural topic modeling. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.13041v1
12.
DavisonK. P.PennebakerJ. W.DickersonS. S. (2000). Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups. American Psychologist, 55(2), 205–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.2.205
13.
DeGrootJ. M.VikT. A. (2021). “Fake smile. Everything is under control”: The flawless performance of motherhood. Western Journal of Communication, 85(1), 42–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2019.1678763
14.
DuC.LeeW.AminK. A.LucioniA.KobashiK. C.LeeU. J. (2021). “Beyond the Bump”—Insight into the postpartum women’s experience of pelvic organ prolapse as expressed on Reddit. Urology, 150, 99–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2020.08.026
15.
DunatchikA.GersonK.GlassJ.JacobsJ. A.StritzelH. (2021). Gender, parenting, and the rise of remote work during the pandemic: Implications for domestic inequality in the United States. Gender & Society, 35(2), 194–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211001301
16.
EvansM.DonelleL.Hume-LovelandL. (2012). Social support and online postpartum depression discussion groups: A content analysis. Patient Education and Counseling, 87(3), 405–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2011.09.011
17.
FeinererI.HornikK. (2024). tm: Text Mining Package (version 0.7-12).
18.
FeldhegeJ.MoessnerM.BauerS. (2020). Who says what? Content and participation characteristics in an online depression community. Journal of Affective Disorders, 263, 521–527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.007
19.
FergusonK. E. (1984). The feminist case against bureaucracy. Temple University Press.
20.
FloresN.SupanJ.KreutzerC. B.SamsonA.CoffeyD. M.JavierJ. R. (2015). Prevention of Filipino youth behavioral health disparities: Identifying barriers and facilitators to participating in “incredible years,” an evidence-based parenting intervention, Los Angeles, California, 2012. Preventing Chronic Disease, 12, 150186. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd12.150186
21.
FranciscoS. C.FelmleeD. H. (2022). What did you call me? An analysis of online harassment towards Black and Latinx women. Race and Social Problems, 14(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/S12552-021-09330-7
22.
GallagherS.WetherellM. A. (2020). Risk of depression in family caregivers: Unintended consequence of COVID-19. BJPsych Open, 6(6), e119. https://doi.org/10.1192/BJO.2020.99
23.
GarnerC. D.RatcliffS. L.ThornburgL. L.WethingtonE.HowardC. R.RasmussenK. M. (2016). Discontinuity of breastfeeding care: “There’s no captain of the ship.”Breastfeeding Medicine, 11(1), 32–39. https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2015.0142
24.
GoldsteinL. H.DienerM. L.MangelsdorfS. C. (1996). Maternal characteristics and social support across the transition to motherhood: Associations with maternal behavior. Journal of Family Psychology, 10(1), 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.10.1.60
HackworthN. J.MatthewsJ.WestruppE. M.NguyenC.PhanT.SciclunaA.CannW.BethelsenD.BennettsS. K.NicholsonJ. M. (2018). What influences parental engagement in early intervention? Parent, program and community predictors of enrolment, retention and involvement. Prevention Science, 19(7), 880–893. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0897-2
27.
Highton-WilliamsonE.PriebeS.GiaccoD. (2015). Online social networking in people with psychosis: A systematic review. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 61(1), 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764014556392
28.
HoltzB.SmockA.Reyes-GastelumD. (2015). Connected motherhood: Social support for moms and moms-to-be on Facebook. Telemedicine and e-Health, 21(5), 415–421. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2014.0118
29.
HouseJ. S. (1981). Work stress and social support. Addison-Wesley.
30.
HussainM.SoomroT. R. (2023). Social media: An exploratory study of information, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Applied Computer Systems, 28(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.2478/acss-2023-0002
31.
IngramJ.JohnsonD.GreenwoodR. (2002). Breastfeeding in Bristol: Teaching good positioning, and support from fathers and families. Midwifery, 18(2), 87–101. https://doi.org/10.1054/midw.2002.0308
32.
KramaraeC. (1981). Women and men speaking: Frameworks for analysis. Newbury House.
33.
Leahy-WarrenP.McCarthyG.CorcoranP. (2012). First-time mothers: Social support, maternal parental self-efficacy and postnatal depression. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21(3–4), 388–397. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03701.x
34.
LévesqueS.BissonV.ChartonL.FernetM. (2020). Parenting and relational well-being during the transition to parenthood: Challenges for first-time parents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(7), 1938–1956. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10826-020-01727-Z
35.
MacMillanK. K.LewisA. J.WatsonS. J.BourkeD.GalballyM. (2021). Maternal social support, depression and emotional availability in early mother-infant interaction: Findings from a pregnancy cohort. Journal of Affective Disorders, 292, 757–765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.048
36.
ManuelJ. I.MartinsonM. L.Bledsoe-MansoriS. E.BellamyJ. L. (2012). The influence of stress and social support on depressive symptoms in mothers with young children. Social Science & Medicine, 75(11), 2013–2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.07.034
37.
McFaddenA.GavineA.RenfrewM. J.WadeA.BuchananP.TaylorJ. L.VeitchE.RennieA. M.CrowtherS. A.NeimanS.MacGillivrayS. (2017). Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2017(2), CD001141. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD001141.pub5
McKinleyM. (2019). Analyzing PCOS discourses: Strategies for unpacking chronic illness and taking action. In White-FarnhamJ.FinerB. S.MolloyC. (Eds.), Women’s health advocacy (pp. 34–44). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429201165-6
40.
MeehanC. L.QuinlanR.MalcomC. D. (2013). Cooperative breeding and maternal energy expenditure among aka foragers. American Journal of Human Biology, 25(1), 42–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22336
41.
MillerE. K.O’DonnellK. A.BenderA. E.EvansK. E.HolmesM. R. (2022). Mothers’ experiences of emotional connection during COVID-19 in the United States: A thematic analysis. Families in Society, 103(4), 489–502. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894221094504
42.
MittalV. A.TessnerK. D.WalkerE. F. (2007). Elevated social Internet use and schizotypal personality disorder in adolescents. Schizophrenia Research, 94(1–3), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2007.04.009
43.
MoP. K. H.CoulsonN. S. (2010). Empowering processes in online support groups among people living with HIV/AIDS: A comparative analysis of “lurkers” and “posters.”Computers in Human Behavior, 26(5), 1183–1193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.028
44.
Niela-VilénH.AxelinA.SalanteräS.MelenderH.-L. (2014). Internet-based peer support for parents: A systematic integrative review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51(11), 1524–1537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.06.009
RobertsM. E.StewartB. M.TingleyD. (2019). “stm”: An R package for structural topic models. Journal of Statistical Software, 91(2), 1–40. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v091.i02
48.
RobertsM. E.StewartB. M.TingleyD.LucasC.Leder-LuisJ.GadarianS. K.AlbertsonB.RandD. G. (2014). Structural topic models for open-ended survey responses. American Journal of Political Science, 58(4), 1064–1082. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12103
49.
SarkadiA.BrembergS. (2005). Socially unbiased parenting support on the Internet: A cross-sectional study of users of a large Swedish parenting website. Child: Care, Health and Development, 31(1), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2005.00475.x
50.
SchoenebeckS. (2021). The secret life of online moms: Anonymity and disinhibition on YouBeMom.com. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 7(1), 555–562. https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v7i1.14379
51.
SchrankB.SibitzI.UngerA.AmeringM. (2010). How patients with schizophrenia use the Internet: Qualitative study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12(5), e70. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1550
52.
ScrandisD. A. (2005). Normalizing postpartum depressive symptoms with social support. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 11(4), 223–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078390305280940
SriramanN. K.KellamsA. (2016). Breastfeeding: What are the barriers? Why women struggle to achieve their goals. Journal of Women’s Health, 25(7), 714–722. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2014.5059
TaylorS. E. (2011). Social support: A review. In FriedmanH. S. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of health psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 189–214). Oxford University Press.
57.
TeagueS. J.ShatteA. B. R. (2021). Peer support of fathers on Reddit: Quantifying the stressors, behaviors, and drivers. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 22(4), 757–766. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000353
TomoriC.PalmquistA. E. L.QuinnE. (2017). Introduction: Towards new anthropologies of breastfeeding. In TomoriC.PalmquistA. E. L.QuinnE. A. (Eds.), Breastfeeding (pp. 1–25). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315145129-1
60.
TullyK. P.BallH. L. (2017). Understanding and enabling breastfeeding in the context of maternal-infant needs. In TomoriC.PalmquistA. E. L.QuinnE. A. (Eds.), Breastfeeding (pp. 199–211). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315145129-14
61.
UssherJ. M. (2003). The role of premenstrual dysphoric disorder in the subjectification of women. Journal of Medical Humanities, 24(1–2), 131–146. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021366001305
62.
van Uden-KraanC. F.DrossaertC. H.TaalE.SeydelE. R.van de LaarM. A. (2008). Self-reported differences in empowerment between lurkers and posters in online patient support groups. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10(2), e18. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.992
63.
VenisJ. A.McCloskeyS. (2007). Postpartum depression demystified: An essential guide for understanding and beating the most common complication after childbirth (VenisJ. A.McCloskey Suzanne, Eds.). Da Capo Lifelong Books.
64.
WestruppE. M.GreenwoodC. J.Fuller-TyszkiewiczM.BerkowitzT. S.HaggL.YoussefG. (2022). Text mining of Reddit posts: Using latent Dirichlet allocation to identify common parenting issues. PLOS ONE, 17(2), e0262529. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262529
65.
WilliamsonT.WagstaffD. L.GoodwinJ.SmithN. (2023). Mothering ideology: A qualitative exploration of mothers’ perceptions of navigating motherhood pressures and partner relationships. Sex Roles, 88(1–2), 101–117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-022-01345-7
