Caregiver Psychological Maltreatment Behaviors Toward Children on TikTok

Abstract

We examined TikTok user engagement when parents post videos engaging in psychological maltreatment (PM) behaviors towards their children, using the APSAC-endorsed definition of PM. A new TikTok account was created and seeded with PM behavior videos identified previously; similar videos then appeared on the new account’s “For You Page” (an algorithmic feed curated by TikTok). Researchers identified 35 creators who had posted at least one PM behavior video, resulting in their full profile being coded ( N = 2684 videos) for five engagement metrics, presence of children, and presence of PM behavior. Non-parametric paired comparisons (Mann-Whitney tests) were made within individual creators for: (1) engagement metrics before and after the first PM behavior video, (2) engagement metrics for PM behavior videos versus non-PM videos, (3) engagement metrics for child videos versus non-child videos, and (4) proportion of videos containing children before and after the first PM video. All but one analysis was significant (effect sizes from .28 to .59, average r = .46). We discuss directions for future research, as well as how child welfare and content moderation policy can be updated to change social norms around sharenting.