Guided by Routine and Nurturance: How Parent Characteristics Shape Online Infant Health Information Seeking

Increasingly, parents are turning to digital and social media for infant health information. Studies have called for more research investigating how parental characteristics influence digital media information seeking because these same characteristics impact approaches to infant caregiving and decision-making. Drawing on the selective exposure self- and affect- management model, the current study investigated how two common characteristics of infant parenting approaches (i.e. routine and nurturance) influenced digital and social media information-seeking behaviors in a cross-sectional survey (N = 124) with mothers of infants 12 months or younger. Key findings revealed that routine orientation positively predicted searching for topics related to naps, sleep training, developmental milestones, and nurturance negatively predicted seeking topics of sleep training, crying, and infant bonding. Further, nuanced differences in how routine orientation and nurturance influence social media behaviors may exist. Being routine-oriented predicted asking questions in chats, posts, and forums on social media. Being high in nurturance predicted reading about other parents’ personal experiences and using social media to exchange opinions and experiences with other parents. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.