Description

The restructuring of roles, responsibilities, and relationships that occurs during the transition to parenthood brings both rewards and challenges to first-time mothers (Bartholomew, Schoppe-Sullivan, Glassman, Dush, & Sullivan, 2012; Horowitz & Damato, 1999). Along with engendering a sense of achievement and building new, satisfying relationships (Horowitz & Damato, 1999), the transition to parenthood is characterized as a time of parental stress (Crnic & Low, 2002; Deater-Deckard, 1998; Leigh & Milgrom, 2008), which can have negative effects on both mother and child (Leigh & Milgrom, 2008). To manage this stress, and thus defend against negative outcomes, first-time mothers need to feel a sense of social support (Crnic, Greenberg, Ragozin, Robinson, & Basham, 1983; Cutrona, 1984; Gao, Chan, & Mao, 2009; McDaniel, Coyne, Holmes, 2012; Nakagawa, Teti, & Lamb, 1992). And in today's technology-driven era, this essential sense of support may be conveniently achieved through social media because it provides mothers with a quick and nearly ever-present way to "escape the four walls of their] homes . . . and find a community of support" (Cole, 2009, para. 6).