How Family Members Stay in Touch: A Quantitative Investigation of Core Family Networks

Abstract

Traditionally, people's closest family members resided locally where face-to-face interaction was the predominant mode of communication. Today, in addition to face-to-face visits, one can use a landline telephone, cellular telephone, or any number of the computer-mediated communications such as e-mail. This article explores the modes of communication people use most with their three closest family members with a particular emphasis on how mode of communication may vary by three factors: (1) family member locality, (2) physical distance of the family member, and (3) frequency of communication. The results from a 2005 random sample mail survey show that e-mail has become an important tool in maintaining core familial social networks, especially when these family members live outside the local area. The impacts of computer-mediated communications on the maintenance of familial networks and resulting social capital are addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• computer-mediated communications
• family networks
• internet

Notes

^a Number of relatives with whom respondent uses given mode of communication most often (0–3 relatives).

¹Although we collected data on postal mail, the number of people who used this mode as a primary form of communication was very small, and therefore we excluded it from the analysis. The data, however, are available upon request.

²Diagnostics for the tests addressing overdispersion are available upon request. All models were significant at the p < .001 level.

The question asked was “When you want to communicate with this relative, which of the following do you use most often?” Response options included Personal Visit, E-mail, Landline Telephone, and Cellular Telephone. The question was asked about all three of respondents' three closest relatives.

Control variables include degree of Internet usage, age, employment status, married or not, gender, education, and income. Full models can be found in the Appendix.

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Control variables include degree of Internet usage, age, employment status, married or not, gender, education, and income. Full models can be found in the Appendix.

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Control variables include degree of Internet usage, age, employment status, married or not, gender, education, and income. Full models can be found in the Appendix.

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Control variables include degree of Internet usage, age, employment status, married or not, gender, education, and income. In addition, variables that comprise the interactions are included in the equations. Full models can be found in the Appendix.

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Key independent variables are centered in the interactions models (Models 4 and 5).

*p < .05.