title: In-person contact begets calling and texting: interpersonal motives for cell phone use, face-to-face interaction, and loneliness.
abstract: This study examined how cell-phone use is related to interpersonal motives for using cell phones, face-to-face communication, and loneliness. A survey of 232 college students who owned a cell phone revealed that affection and inclusion were relatively strong motivations for using voice calls and text messaging, and that interpersonal motives were positively related to the amount of cell-phone use, including calling and texting. The amount of face-to-face interaction was positively associated with the participants' cell-phone use and their interpersonal motives for using cell phones: the more the participants engaged in face-to-face interaction with other people, the higher their motives were and the more frequent cell-phone use was. Loneliness did not have a direct relation to cell-phone use. Instead, the participants with higher levels of loneliness were less likely to engage in face-to-face social interaction, which led them to use cell phones less and to be less motivated to use cell phones for interpersonal purposes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712-0115, USA. bjin@mail.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Borae
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Namkee
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students