Poster Session 4: Family Dynamics and Decisions

Presenters: Bhoj Balayar, Michael Langlais

Summary
Media multiplexity theory illustrates that the more technological connections (i.e., multimodality) an individual has with family members, the stronger that relationship. Yet, it is unclear how multimodality and spending time face-to-face (FtF) contribute to family closeness. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of online and offline interactions for the quality of family relationships. Data comes from undergraduate students completing an online survey (N= 154). Correlational analyses revealed that spending time FtF is positively associated with relationship closeness for one parent, but not the other. Texting was positively associated with sibling closeness. Additionally, there was a positive relationship between spending time FtF and relationship closeness and love across multiple relationships for participants high in collectivism.

Objectives
-- Examine how multimodality (i.e., texting, voice calling, direct messaging, and viewing content on social media) is associated with relationship quality across different family relationships.
-- Compare multimodality to spending time face-to-face to determine which approach best contributes to the quality of family relationships.
-- Test individualism and collectivism as moderators for the relationship among multimodality, spending time face-to-face and the quality of family relationships.

Subject Codes: family relations, technology, communication
Population Codes: extended family/kin, siblings, families of choice
Method and Approach Codes: quantitative methodology, regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), cross-cultural