Abstract
Due to the ubiquity of cell phones, a myriad of studies have been conducted relating to human interaction with the devices. Though prior studies have indicated individuals have behavioral and physiological anxiety when separated from their phone, previous studies have not examined participants rating their relationship to their phone with intimate words reserved for close relationships. We had 175 students from a Midwestern university in the United States complete the Self-Perception of Text-Message Dependence Scale (SPTMDS) and the Emotional Attachment Scale. All four subscales of the SPTMDS (emotional reaction, excessive use, relationship maintenance, and psychological/behavioral symptoms) were significantly and positively correlated with emotional attachment. In addition, emotional attachment, age, and gender explained 22.8% of variance of the texting reliance scores. How an individual feels toward their phone appears to relate to how reliant an individual is on texting in their day-to-day lives. Implications for future studies are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1973). The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. Cardwell & H. Ricciuti (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 3, pp. 1–94). Chicago: University Press.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41, 49–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/1127388.
Augner, C., & Hacker, G. W. (2012). Associations between problematic mobile phone use and psychological parameters in young adults. International Journal of Public Health, 57, 437–441 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-011-0234-z.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol 2. Separation. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Loss: Sadness and depression. New York: Basic Books.
Brennan, K. A., Clark, C. L., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Self-reported measurement of adult attachment: An integrative overview. In J. A. Simpson & W. S. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 46–76). New York: Guilford Press.
Brenner, J. (2012). Pew Internet: Mobile. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from www.pewinternet.org/commentary/2012/february/pew-internet-mobile.aspx.
Cassidy, J., & Kobak, R. R. (1988). Avoidance and its relation to other defensive processes. In J. Belsky, & T. Nezworski (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment. (pp. 300-323). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cheever, N. A., Rosen, L. D., Carrier, M. L., & Chavez, A. (2014). Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, 290–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.002.
Clayton, R. B., Leshner, G., & Almond, A. (2015). The extended iSelf: The impact of iPhone separation on cognition, emotion, and physiology. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20, 119–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12109.
Ferraro, F. R., Winger, A., Kreiger, M., Langseth, M., Weivioda, L., Palmiscno, J., et al. (2012). Text-message dependence, impulsivity, and executive function. In M. A. Cyders (Ed.), Psychology of impulsivity. Hauppauge: Nova Science Publishers.
Ferraro, F. R., Wunderlich, L., Wyrobek, K., & Weivoda, L. (2014). Does iPod Dependence Relate to Text-Message Dependence? The Psychological Record, 64, 499–502.
Ferraro, F. R., Holfeld, B., Frankl, S., Frye, N., & Halvorson, N. (2015). Texting/iPod dependence, executive function and sleep quality in college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.043.
Forgays, D. K., Hyman, I., & Schreiber, J. (2014). Texting everywhere for everything: Gender and age differences in cell phone etiquette and use. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 314–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.053.
Fraley, C. R., Heffernan, M. E., Vicary, A. M., & Brumbaugh, C. C. (2011). The experiences in close relationships – Relationship structures questionnaire: A method for assessing attachment orientations across relationships. Psychological Assessments, 23, 615–625. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022898.
Grellhesl, M., & Punyanunt-Carter, N. M. (2012). Using the uses and gratifications theory to understand gratifications sought through text messaging practices of male and female undergraduate students. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 2175–2181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.06.024.
Harrison, M. A., & Gilmore, A. L. (2012). U text WHEN? College students’ social contexts of text messaging. The Social Science Journal, 49, 513–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2012.05.003.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. R. (1994). Attachment as an organizational framework for research onclose relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 5, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0501_1.
Hong, F., Chiu, S., & Husang, D. (2012). A model of the relationship between psychological characteristics, mobile phone addiction and the use of mobile phones by Taiwanese university female students. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 2152–2159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.06.020.
Igarashi, T., Takai, J., & Yoshida, T. (2005). Gender differences in social network development via mobile phone text messages: A longitudinal study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 691–713 https://doi.org/10/1177/0265407505056492.
Igarashi, T., Motoyoshi, T., Takai, J., & Yoshida, T. (2008). No mobile, no life: Self-perceptions and text message dependency among Japanese high school students. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 2311–2324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2007.12.001.
Keefer, L. A., Landau, M. J., Rothschild, K. Z., & Sullivan, D. (2012). Attachment to objects as compensation for close others’ perceived unreliability. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 912–917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.007.
Keefer, L., Landau, M. J., & Sullivan, D. (2014). Non-human support: Broadening the score of attachment theory. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8, 524–535. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12129.
Konok, V., Gigler, D., Bereczky, B. M., & Miklósi. (2016). Humans’ attachment to their mobile phones and its relationship with interpersonal attachment styles. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 537–547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.062.
Kwon, M., Lee, W., Park, W., Min, J., Hahn, J., Gu, C., Choi, X., & Kim, D. (2013). Development and validation of a smartphone addiction scale (SAS). PLOS One, 8, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056936.
Lenhart, A. (2012). Teens, smartphones, and texting. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org
Lin, Y. H., Lin, Y. C., Lee, Y. H., Lin, P. H., Lin, S. H., Chang, L. R., Tseng, H. W., Yen, L. Y., Yang, C. C., & Kuo, T. B. (2015). Time distortion associated with smartphone addiction: Identifying smartphone addiction via a mobile application (app). Journal of Psychiatric Research, 65, 139–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.04.003.
Pew Research Center. (2017). Mobile Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/.
Ribak, R. (2009). Remote control, umbilical cord and beyond: The mobile phone as a transitional object. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27, 183–196. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151008X388413.
Roberts, J. A., Yaya, L. H. P., & Manolis, C. (2014). The invisible addiction: Cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students. Journal of Behavioral Addiction, 3, 254–265. https://doi.org/10.1556/JBA.3.2014.015.
Schaffer, H. R., & Emerson, P. E. (1964). The development of social attachments in infancy. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 29, 1–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/1165727.
Skierkowski, D., & Wood, R. M. (2012). To text or not to text? The importance of text messaging among college-aged youth. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 744–756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.11.023.
Smetaniuk, P. (2014). A preliminary investigation into the prevalence and prediction of problematic cell phone use. Journal of Behavioral Addiction, 3, 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1556/JBA.3.2014.004.
Spinella, M. (2005). Self-rerated executive function: Development of the executive function index. Journal of Neuroscience, 115, 649–667.
Sweeney, R. (2006). Millennial behaviors and demographics. Retrieved from http://certi.mst.edu/media/administrative/certi/documents/Article-Millennial-Behaviors.pdf.
Thomson, M., MacInnis, D. J., & Park, C. W. (2005). The ties that bind: Measuring the strength of consumers’ emotional attachments to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15, 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1501_10.
Trub, L., & Barbot, B. (2016). The paradox of phone attachment: Development and validation of the young adult attachment to phone scale (YAPS). Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 663–672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.07.050.
Walsh, S. P., White, K. M., & Young, R. M. (2007). Over-connected? A qualitative exploration of the relationship between Australian youth and their mobile phones. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 72–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.04.004.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 14 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holte, A.J., Richard Ferraro, F. Tethered to texting: Reliance on texting and emotional attachment to cell phones. Curr Psychol 40, 1–8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0037-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0037-y