Birthing in the Age of Social Media: Exploring the Relationship Between Social Media Content and Fear of Childbirth and Obstetric Preferences

This study explored the social media usage of 348 Australian nulliparous pregnant women and the relationship between viewing different portrayals of childbirth and fear of childbirth (FOC) and obstetric preferences. The median daily social media usage was 5 hours, and Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube were the most popular. Although holistic features within childbirth-related content were more prominent, women who viewed predominantly technocratic features reported significantly higher FOC and were significantly more likely to prefer cesarean sections and pharmacological pain relief. The high rates of social media usage highlight the urgent need for future research to investigate the mechanisms of causality.