Unpacking Discourses on Childbirth and Parenthood in Popular Social Media Platforms Across China, Japan, and South Korea

Abstract

Social media use has been shown to be associated with low fertility desires. However, we know little about the discourses surrounding childbirth and parenthood that people consume online. We analyze 219,127 comments on 668 short videos from Douyin and Tiktok related to reproduction and parenthood from China, South Korea, and Japan, a region famous for its extremely low fertility level, to examine the topics and sentiment expressed in online comments. BERTopic model is used to assist thematic analysis, and a large language model QWen is applied to label sentiment. We find that comments are mainly about child-rearing expenses in all countries, children's utility, particularly in Japan and South Korea, and the rise of individualism, primarily in China. Comments from Douyin exhibit the strongest anti-natalist sentiments, while the Japanese and Korean comments are more balanced. Short video characteristics, such as their views, account type, significantly influence the comment sentiments, alongside regional socioeconomic indicators, including GDP, urbanization, and gender equality level. This work provides one of the first comprehensive analyses of popular discourses on family formation via social media platforms in regions experiencing low fertility rates, making a valuable contribution to our understanding of the spread of family values online.