Influence of Social Media Uses and Gratifications on Family Health among U.S. Parents: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Some research suggests that parents on social media have access to greater social support and health information. However, evidence also connects parental social media use to negative outcomes including increased parental stress, depression, and distraction. Using the uses and gratification theory, this study goes beyond measures of parents’ individual mental health and explores social media use and its association with family well-being. Family health outcomes were predicted to vary with parents’ use and gratifications of social media, with parents who use social media primarily for information and connection scoring higher on family health and parents who used social media for entertainment scoring worse on family health. The sample included 482 heterosexual married or cohabiting partners recruited through a Qualtrics panel. All participants were parents of children ages of 3–13, with mothers and fathers each completing the survey. Findings indicated that fathers’ use of social media for entertainment and connecting with family and friends was associated with better family well-being and health resources (p < 0.01). However, mothers’ use of social media did not have a statistically meaningful relationship with family health variables. There was no evidence that parental social media use was associated with negative family health outcomes. Longitudinal data is needed to determine the temporal relationship between social media use and family health. Public health professionals interested in improving family health may consider how to better reach fathers on social media to increase health resources.