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Going to college and staying connected: communication between college freshmen and their parents

Authors:

Madeline E. Smith,

Duyen T. Nguyen,

Eric P.S. BaumerAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '12: Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work

Pages 789 - 798

https://doi.org/10.1145/2145204.2145322

Published: 11 February 2012 Publication History

Abstract

For many first-year college students in their late teen years, communicating with parents provides crucial social support. When going to college involves moving away from home for the first time, students and their parents must rely on technologies to keep communication channels open. We studied the ways in which college freshmen communicate with their parents and the various communication technologies they use. Interviews with nineteen first-year students at a major United States university revealed insights into students' perspectives of their communication and relationships with parents. We found students to use a variety of tools to connect with their parents and identified some considerations they make when choosing tools. Furthermore, the use of these communication tools played a significant role in mediating students' social and emotional closeness with, and independence from, their parents. We conclude by discussing technical and social implications for social support of students and student-parent relationships.

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Cited By

Pinter ABrubaker J(2024)I'm Working on Erasing You, Just Don't Have the Proper Tools: Supporting Online Identity Management After the End of Romantic RelationshipsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373438:CSCW1(1-32)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637343
Shakeri HNeustaedter C(2024)Passive Co-presence: Exploring How Peripheral Devices Connect People Over DistanceExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3651126(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3651126
Chen BLi X(2024)Understanding Socio-technical Opportunities for Enhancing Communication Between Older Adults and their Remote FamilyProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642318(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642318
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Going to college and staying connected: communication between college freshmen and their parents
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Collaborative and social computing theory, concepts and paradigms
      1. Computer supported cooperative work
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing and business
      1. Computer supported cooperative work

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '12: Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work

February 2012

1460 pages

ISBN:9781450310864

DOI:10.1145/2145204

General Chairs:
Steven Poltrock
Boeing Research & Technology
,
Carla Simone
University of Milano-Biccoca
,
Program Chairs:
Jonathan Grudin
Microsoft Research
,
Gloria Mark
University of California, Irvine
,
John Riedl
University of Minnesota

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 11 February 2012

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CSCW '12

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SIGCHI

CSCW '12: Computer Supported Cooperative Work

February 11 - 15, 2012

Washington, Seattle, USA

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CSCW '12 Paper Acceptance Rate 164 of 415 submissions, 40%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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CSCW '25

Sponsor:
sigchi

Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

October 18 - 22, 2025

Bergen , Norway

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Cited By

Pinter ABrubaker J(2024)I'm Working on Erasing You, Just Don't Have the Proper Tools: Supporting Online Identity Management After the End of Romantic RelationshipsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373438:CSCW1(1-32)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637343
Shakeri HNeustaedter C(2024)Passive Co-presence: Exploring How Peripheral Devices Connect People Over DistanceExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3651126(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3651126
Chen BLi X(2024)Understanding Socio-technical Opportunities for Enhancing Communication Between Older Adults and their Remote FamilyProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642318(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642318
Mroz A(2024)Do students carry their home in their pocket?Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education10.1075/sar.22018.mro9:1(100-126)Online publication date: 9-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.22018.mro
Shakeri HGeiskkovitch DGarg RNeustaedter C(2023)Sensing Their Presence: How Emerging Adults And Their Parents Connect After Moving ApartProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581102(1-18)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581102
Haimson OMarathe M(2023)Uncovering Personal Histories: A Technology-Mediated Approach to Eliciting Reflection on Identity TransitionsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/350400430:2(1-28)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3504004
Wu OLu XYeo KXiao YYip P(2022)Assessing Prevalence and Unique Risk Factors of Suicidal Ideation among First-Year University Students in China Using a Unique Multidimensional University Personality InventorInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health10.3390/ijerph19171078619:17(10786)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710786
McCurdy ABenito-Gomez MLee GFletcher A(2022)College Students’ Perceptions of Communication Technology Use and Parent–Child RelationshipsEmerging Adulthood10.1177/2167696821106095410:5(1118-1131)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968211060954
Pinter ABrubaker J(2022)Behold the Once and Future Me: Online Identity After the End of a Romantic RelationshipProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35550976:CSCW2(1-35)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3555097
Ernala SSeybolt JYoo DBirnbaum MKane JDe Choudhury M(2022)The Reintegration Journey Following a Psychiatric Hospitalization: Examining the Role of Social TechnologiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35129696:CSCW1(1-31)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2022
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