Center for Persuasive Communication

Parenting and social media

Parenting and social mediaThe transition to parenthood often signifies an overwhelming life transformation, further complicated by high societal expectations and firmly idealized parenting standards. Specifically, today’s neoliberal era is characterized by strong societal pressure on parents to be the primary decision-makers for their children, explaining the increasing parental pressure and their tendency to seek information on social media. CEPEC, therefore, researches how social media content is consumed by and affects today’s parents, with a strong focus on the content shared by social media influencers.

 

Parent influencers are defined as content creators who have attained opinion leader status and a large number of followers (minimum 1000) by offering an intimate window into their everyday family life through a wealth of online content. They are considered important opinion leaders, greatly shaping the attitudes, norms, and behaviors of their followers due to their consistent self-disclosure of intimate information and the trust relationships they establish. Our research investigates how parent influencers are integrated into the everyday lives of parents and how it affects them and the decisions they make for their children.

 

Currently, CEPEC is conducting several research projects on these topics:

  • Within her postdoctoral FWO project, Emma Beuckels investigates how parent influencers affect parental wellbeing and decision-making. In specific she focuses on how the content of parent influencers affects parents’ self-perceptions and mental wellbeing. Besides, investigates how parent influencers affect infant nutrition choices of parents.
  • Ellen Mertens investigates how young parents use social media for information seeking purposes and how parent influencers can serve as agents to support them in their breastfeeding journey.
  • A collaborative interdisciplinary project, supported by BOF and involving the faculty of clinical psychology, is exploring the potential of incorporating parent influencers as entertainment educators. The aim is to guide parents towards making healthier choices for infant nutrition.