ArticleMaternal and child health journal2026
Maternity-Leave Related TikTok Videos: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Content and Viewer Engagement.
Article in Maternal and child health journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
purposeMaternity leave policy in the United States is fragmented, leading to inconsistent access to job protection and paid leave. The lack of a universal policy and variation across states contributes to inequities in maternal health, economic stability, and gender equity. This study describes how maternity leave is portrayed on TikTok and examines which content features are associated with viewer engagement as a part of informal policy dialogue.
methodsA cross-sectional content analysis was conducted on 100 TikTok videos tagged with #maternityleave. Videos were coded for thematic content (e.g., humor, policy references, music, presence of infants) and engagement metrics (views, likes, comments, favorites). Descriptive statistics summarized content features and engagement metrics. Independent two-tailed Welch t-tests (α = 0.05) compared views, likes, favorites, and comments between videos with and without each of the four most common content features. False Discovery Rate (FDR) adjustments were applied to account for multiple comparisons, and Cohen's d was used to estimate effect size.
resultsThe 100 videos generated substantial engagement (41.3 million views, 3.14 million likes, 187,145 favorites, and 114,574 comments), and most featured only women (88%). Videos referencing a specific policy and videos without music received more favorites, while videos featuring an infant showed a trend toward more likes. Humor was not associated with engagement. None of the observed associations remained significant after false discovery rate correction.
conclusionMaternity leave content on TikTok attracted substantial viewer engagement, and several content features demonstrated exploratory patterns of association with engagement. Policy-referencing videos received more favorites in the unadjusted analysis, while infant-related content showed a non-significant trend toward greater likes. The results suggest that TikTok is one space where maternity leave experiences and policies are discussed. Given the modest convenience sample and the platform's dynamic nature, future research should examine whether engagement with such content relates to viewers' maternity leave knowledge, attitudes, or civic action for national maternity leave policy.
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