title: Call Home? Mobile Phones and Contacts with Mother in 24 Countries.
abstract: This paper explores how the diffusion of mobile phones is associated with communication between adult children and their mothers. The paper analyzes 2001 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data from 24 countries (N = 12,313) combined with the country-level data on the prevalence of mobile phones. Net of individual-level predictors and country wealth, adult children who resided in countries with high prevalence of mobile phones contacted their mothers more frequently. High prevalence of mobile phones was also associated with larger differences in maternal contact by gender and smaller differences by education. These findings suggest that any impact of new communication technology on intergenerational relations is complex. Although mobile phones point to higher levels of at-a-distance contact with mothers and narrower socio-economic disparities related to access and affordability of communication technology, they are also linked to wider contact disparities following gendered cultural expectations.
authors: Assistant Professor of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Sociology, 351 Arts & Sciences Bldg., 1400 Washington Ave, Albany, NY, 12222.
authors: Zoya
authors: Z
authors: Gubernskaya
authors: Chancellor's Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, Department of Sociology, 3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697.
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Treas
keywords: communication technology; cross-national research; demography; intergenerational relations; social support; social trends