College students' use of electronic communication with parents: links to loneliness, attachment, and relationship quality.
Despite the ubiquitous use of new communication technologies, gaps in our knowledge remain regarding who is likely to rely on particular technologies and potential ramifications of these forms of communication on individuals' relationships and adjustment. In an online survey, 211 college students reported on their use of electronic communication with a parent who they identified as their closest family member. Results indicated that students who report more frequent phone conversations with parents also report more satisfying, intimate, and supportive parental relationships, but those students who use a social-networking site to communicate with parents report higher levels of loneliness, anxious attachment, as well as conflict within the parental relationship. The findings offer new evidence on how electronic communication technology with parents is related to adjustment in college students. Our study also suggests that further research is needed using longitudinal designs to understand better young adults' use of technology to communicate in today's society.
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA. amy.gentzler@mail.wvu.edu
Amy L
AL
Gentzler
Ann M
AM
Oberhauser
David
D
Westerman
Danielle K
DK
Nadorff
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008132:Loneliness; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult