How is Fatherhood Framed Online in Singapore?

TL;DR

This study analyzes online discussions in Singapore to understand how fatherhood is portrayed, revealing that fathers are often not depicted as central to the family, which can inform policy to improve paternal engagement and birth rates.

Contribution

The paper applies multiple NLP techniques to analyze a large dataset of online content, providing a comprehensive view of fatherhood framing in Singapore.

Findings

Fatherhood is variably framed across platforms.

Fathers are not depicted as central to families.

Multiple NLP methods validate each other's results.

Abstract

The proliferation of discussion about fatherhood in Singapore attests to its significance, indicating the need for an exploration of how fatherhood is framed, aiding policy-making around fatherhood in Singapore. Sound and holistic policy around fatherhood in Singapore may reduce stigma and apprehension around being a parent, critical to improving the nations flagging birth rate. We analyzed 15,705 articles and 56,221 posts to study how fatherhood is framed in Singapore across a range of online platforms (news outlets, parenting forums, Twitter). We used NLP techniques to understand these differences. While fatherhood was framed in a range of ways on the Singaporean online environment, it did not seem that fathers were framed as central to the Singaporean family unit. A strength of our work is how the different techniques we have applied validate each other.