Study: Mothers who spend more time surfing social media about motherhood suffer higher stress

by Tauqeer Abbas
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A study finds Mothers who spend more time surfing social media sites about motherhood suffer higher stress hormone levels.

According to a study that was published in the journal Biological Psychology, exposure to social media contents about motherhood can provoke a sense of threat among mothers which triggers stress response of the body. The study revealed that there is a relationship between spending more time on social networking sites about motherhood and increased cortisol levels among mothers. In social interactions, people usually compare themselves with people around them and make self-judgment which can result in negative feelings.

This study explored how social comparisons that are occurred in social networking sites might be effective on momentary cortisol levels. It was focused on mothers, because they are especially influenced by social comparison which is common during motherhood. The researchers observed that higher negative emotions during technology-mediated social exposure (TMSE) was related to higher cortisol.

The results showed that higher engagement in social comparisons during TMSE at a momentary level was related to lower cortisol. Besides, the findings indicate that social comparison may not be harmful by itself. Engaging in social comparison without increased negative feelings was not related to heightened cortisol levels. This is while experiencing increased negative emotions during TMSE was related to heightened cortisol levels.

In addition, it seemed that downward social comparisons reduce the stress response unlike upward social comparison that is led to more negative emotion. The researchers notify that their results have worrying implications for mothers, because heightened cortisol can damage health of people in the long run and even raise mortality risk.

Source: PsyPost , Shafaqna English 

www.shafaqna.com

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