The relationship between digital media use during pregnancy, maternal psychological wellbeing, and maternal-fetal attachment

Melissa Smith, Annaleise S Mitchell, Michelle L Townsend and Jane S Herbert

PLOS ONE, 2020, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: The widespread accessibility and use of the internet provides numerous opportunities for women to independently seek out pregnancy-related information and social and emotional support during the antenatal period. Given the heightened psychological vulnerability of the pregnancy period there is a critical need to examine digital media use within the context of the feelings that women have about themselves and towards their fetus. The current study examined the relationship between digital media use during pregnancy, psychological wellbeing and their maternal-fetal attachment using an online survey. Forty-eight pregnant women completed a self-report questionnaire on their reasons for using digital media, and standardised measures of self-criticism, negative affect, social quality of life (QOL), and maternal-fetal attachment. The mean age of participants was 29.4 years (SD = 5.26), with a mean of 24.3 weeks gestation (SD = 9.95). Information seeking, emotional support and social support were highly endorsed reasons for digital media use (85.42%, 66.67%, 62.5% respectively). However, digital media use was positively correlated with negative affect (p = .003) and self-criticism (p

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0243898

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243898

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