'Motherhood turns women compulsive Facebook users'

But, it's not the case with men, as their Facebook usage remains the same when they become fathers, found the study by researchers from the Ohio State University in the US.

The researchers also discovered that women who were more stressed used Facebook more, perhaps because they were turning to their online network of friends for support.

In the study, they looked at the social networking habits of 154 mothers and 150 fathers and found more than nine out of 10 mothers (93 per cent) used Facebook to post pictures of their children.

Among fathers, the figure was not quite as high, although 83 per cent still used it to do so, the team found.

 

Study researcher Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan said that while almost half (44 per cent) of mothers said they used Facebook more after giving birth than before, about 29 per cent said it stayed the same and 27 per cent said it decreased,

"Given all the stress that new parents are under and everything they have to manage, it wouldn't have been surprising if we had found a decrease in Facebook usage -- but that's not what we found," Schoppe-Sullivan was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Mitchell Bartholomew, who led the study, added: "These mothers may be taking time off from work, and may be far from family, so this network they created for themselves on Facebook can be very valuable in helping them cope."

Among men, 31 per cent said their use of Facebook had increased since becoming fathers, 51 per cent said it had stayed the same and 19 per cent said it had decreased.

Mothers were also more likely to visit the site daily, with 48 per cent doing so, compared with 44 per cent of fathers, the researchers said.

The findings were published in journal Family Relations.