Parents’ social networks, transitional moments and the shaping role of digital communications: an exploratory study in Austria, Denmark, England and Portugal

Abstract

This paper draws upon a qualitative, exploratory study in Austria, Portugal, Denmark and England to argue that the role of digitally mediated ties in parents’ social networks is significantly shaped by offline contexts, crucible moments and transitional events in parenting journeys. The paper draws upon qualitative interviews conducted with parents across 16 families, four in each nation, to draw out how parents’ abilities to participate in, benefit from, and contribute to online networks – amidst an array of groups, forums and chat groups – is often restrained and shaped by offline factors. Particularly, the paper pays attention to transitional moments – not necessarily formal transitions, but nonetheless key events in parenting journeys which shape the course taken by digitally mediated parent networks, amidst widely uneven contexts of family support systems across the countries in the study.