Tensions and adaptations of digital motherhood: Social support in online communities for Chinese mothers during child-rearing

This study analyzes 17,538 textual posts from 5,890 child-rearing mothers across nine cities in Northeast China’s “Mama.cn” community, employing LDA topic modeling and fine-grained sentiment lexicon analysis to systematically examine how online communities empower mothers in addressing parenting challenges. Key findings reveal: (1) Maternal discussions coalesce around five core themes—Childcare (Information Support), Lifestyle (Social Comparison), Healthcare (Mutual Aid), Aspiration Expression (Emotional Bonding), and Emotional Venting (Esteem Support), with the integration of traditional cultural symbols like “Buddha” and “blessing” demonstrating localized strategies in digital motherhood practices; (2) Developmental stages dynamically shape participation patterns: peak nocturnal activity (22:00–00:00) among mothers of infants (0–1 year) reflects sleep deprivation stress, while dramatic engagement decline post-child’s second birthday suggests workforce re-entry and intergenerational support interventions; (3) Sentiment analysis indicates 75.7% positive emotional expression, yet Theme 5 exhibits paradoxical coexistence of high-frequency distress terms (“breakdown,” “insomnia”) with linguistic cosmetic strategies (e.g., framing “help-seeking” as “experience sharing”), revealing characteristic pressure-concealment in online discourse. Theoretically innovating through integrating developmental stage theory with digital motherhood frameworks, this research uncovers mothers’ anonymous negotiation mechanisms reconciling the “myth of ideal motherhood” with practical contradictions. These findings provide interdisciplinary insights for optimizing online parenting support systems within China’s low fertility rate context.