One of the biggest aspects of celebrity gossip culture is the Celebrity Baby Bump. We love to talk about it (even when it’s nonexistent). We love to look at it. We love to analyze about how mothers dress themselves when they have one and how they “recover” when they don’t anymore. But for pregnant women, things may be a little different. A study suggests that obsessing over celebrity baby bumps does not only affect the self esteem of a pregnant mother but also the actual connection she feels to her baby.
The study, published in the journal Psychology & Marketing looked at 478 expecting mothers, and found that pregnant women who more closely follow pregnant celebrities, along with other factors, were more likely to have body image issues and stress regarding weight gain, something a lot of moms already deal with. But the researchers also found it had another effect. As Melissa Dahl at NY Mag writes:
But Krisjanous was also curious what impact this might have on these women’s feelings toward the pregnancy in general. In short: It wasn’t great. These women also reported lower prenatal attachment, something she defined as “the feelings of attachment or love a mother feels for her developing baby during a pregnancy.”
Obviously, paying attention to celebrity baby bumps is not going to immediately hinder the connection between a baby and its mother. And the study looked at less than 500 women who apparently pay at least a little attention to celebrites. So this is not definitive but rather, another interesting look at the effect of celebrity culture on our own lives.
Images via Getty.
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