The mummy bloggers

Blogging is increasingly popular. Hundreds of millions of blogs have been counted on the worldwide web as people share their thoughts and views on every possible topic. One favourite topic for blogging is motherhood and a new study has investigated some of these “mummy bloggers” to see whether blogging is a good or bad thing for a new mum.

The researchers had study participants complete an online survey that evaluated both their media use and their wellbeing. The results showed that blogging had a positive effect on the wellbeing of new mothers but that use of social media such as Facebook had no effect.

Of the mothers surveyed 61 per cent wrote their own blog, 76 per cent read blogs, and 89 per cent of those who write their own blogs did so in order to document personal experiences and share them with others. Additionally, 86 per cent wrote a blog to stay connected with family and friends. Judging by the results of the study, this latter strategy appears to work.

The mummy bloggers expressed a strong connection with family and friends and also an increased sense of social support. In turn this led to the bloggers feeling higher marital satisfaction, less marital conflict, and less parenting stress. The mothers who had fewer feelings of parenting stress also showed less signs of depression.

The other benefit of blogging for new mothers to emerge from the survey was the opportunity to showcase hobbies and achievements which can be particularly important for mums who choose to stay at home.

The researchers were at pains to point out that feeling more supported via your blog does not make parenting stress disappear but it does make it more manageable. However, it does seem that the 21st century version of the old adage might be, “A trouble blogged, is a trouble halved.”