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UNICEF's Transparency Portal Social media networks have become vital channels for Americans’ daily interactions. Users rely on these platforms to keep in touch with family and friends, gather information and share what is important to them. This report explores how parents – 75% of whom use social media – turn to social media for parenting-related information and social support.1 Mothers are heavily engaged on social media, both giving and receiving a high level of support via their networks.Social media networks are host to a wide range of human experiences; they help connect people with one another in both good times and bad. Parents – in this study defined as those with children under 18 – are especially likely to try to respond to the good news others post, answer others’ questions or receive support via online networks. This is true for all kinds of personal matters they encounter – not just parenting posts. While somewhat less common, a majority of parents agree that they try to respond to bad news as well. Mothers are more likely than fathers to engage their networks across a variety of these outreach and support examples:
Social media is broadly viewed as a source of useful information and as one parenting tool among a collection of options. Mothers use it as a parenting resource slightly more often than fathers.While a large share of parents find value in social media as a general information resource, fewer say they come across useful parenting information while using social media. At the same time, one-in-four say they get support from their networks for parenting issues, and mothers who use social media are more than three times as likely as fathers to say they get support.
Few parents say they have felt uncomfortable when information about their children is shared by other family members or caregivers on social media.Most parents have not felt uneasy about the content posted about their children by other family members or caregivers on social media.
Parents, like non-parents, use a variety of social media platforms.This survey also took a broad look at the social media habits of parents. Among internet-using parents,3 social media use across a variety of platforms is common. Parents look a lot like non-parents in this regard, though there are differences between mothers and fathers:
Parents are particularly active on Facebook and LinkedIn, while non-parents use Instagram more frequently.
How parents use FacebookGiven Facebook’s status as the most popular social media platform, this report takes a deeper look into the network composition and habits of parents on the network: Three-quarters (74%) of parents use Facebook. Parents, particularly mothers, interact with their networks frequently.Fully 94% of Facebook-using parents share, post or comment on Facebook (as opposed to simply reading or viewing content), with 70% of parents doing so “frequently” or “sometimes.” This compares to a statistically similar 93% of non-parents who say they ever post content to the platform.Overall, mothers and fathers who use Facebook are equally likely to say they ever share, post, or comment on Facebook. However, mothers are more likely to do this with greater frequency. Some 76% of mothers on Facebook say they do so “frequently” or “sometimes,” compared with 61% of fathers who say the same. A typical parent has 150 Facebook friends. One-third of them are “actual” friends.Among parents, the median number of Facebook friends is 150, while the typical non-parent Facebook user has a median of 200 friends. The largest group of parents on Facebook (42%) have between 0 and 100 Facebook friends on the network. Another 20% of parents say they have between 101 and 250 friends, while 23% have between 251 and 500 friends. Non-parents are more likely than parents to have very large Facebook networks — 16% of non-parent Facebook users have more than 500 Facebook friends, compared with 11% of parents. Facebook networks are composed of a variety of people, not all of whom are necessarily considered close. Parents who use Facebook were asked how many of their friends on the platform they considered “actual friends.” A majority, 76%, said they considered between 0 and 100 of their Facebook friends “actual friends.” The typical parent reports a median of 50 “actual” Facebook friends, while the typical non-parent counts 40 of their Facebook friends as “actual” friends. As noted above, parents report having a median of 150 Facebook friends, and non-parents report having a median of 200 Facebook friends. Thus, a typical parent’s Facebook network is about one-third “actual” friends, while non-parents typically report that less than a quarter of their network is made up of actual friends.4 Family and friends make up the bulk of Facebook networks for parents and non-parents alike.Family and friends, both new and old, are the most common types of connections in users’ Facebook networks.
Parents are more likely to be Facebook friends with their parents than non-parents, 53% vs. 40%. They also are more likely to be friends with their neighbors on the network, 41% vs. 34% of non-parents. Age is a major factor in who makes up the bulk of parents’ Facebook networks. Some 93% of younger parents (those under age 40) who use Facebook are connected with friends from the past. This is significantly more than the 83% of older parents (those ages 40 and older) who say the same. Younger parents also are more likely to be Facebook friends with their own parents (71% vs. 35%). Older parents, those ages 40 and above, are more likely to be friends with their children on Facebook. Some 65% said so, compared with 30% of younger parents. These findings likely reflect the fact that Facebook requires users to be ages 13 and older.5 The data reported here were collected in two telephone surveys conducted by PSRAI and fielded from Sept. 11 to 14, 2014, and Sept. 18 to 21, 2014. The surveys interviewed a nationally representative sample of 2,003 American adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews were conducted by landline (1,002) and cell phone (1,001, including 594 without a landline phone). Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from Sept. 11 to 14, 2014, and Sept. 18 to 21, 2014. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is ± 2.5 percentage points. How many parents are needed to form you?For the time being, however, two people are biologically necessary, and typically sufficient, for creating a child, and most children have exactly two biological procreators.
How has the size of the family changed in the last few decades?They had love and compassion towards each one in the family and they were equal with no hatred but only amicability. But today it has become a nuclear family each family consisting of just the parents and their children. No grandparents or cousins. The family has shrunk.
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