Cellular Phone Usage by Gender in College Students

1
Cellular Phone Usage by Gender in College
Students
2
Background

• Differences in need for socialization and
  connectedness have been shown to exist by gender
• Desire for social support and feelings of
  connectedness have been found to be related to
  physical and mental health in college students,
  and has different implications by gender (Hale,
  Hannum, Espelage, 2005).
• Women are more likely to perceive a higher level
  of stress through a lack of social connectedness
  then men (Lee, Keough, Sexton, 2002).

3
Background

• Differences in need for socialization and
  connectedness have been shown to exist by gender
  (cont'd)
• Women have been shown to perceive an increase in
  social power through social skills (Powers
  Reiser, 2005).
• College age women have been shown to value social
  connectedness more than men (Rude Burnham,
  1995).

4
Hypothesis

• Increased desire for social support and
  connectedness in female over male college
  students should be observable in increased
  cellular phone usage by female students than in
  males.

5
Methods

• Observe college students in a campus environment
  taking note of frequency of cellular phone use.
• Obtain sufficient number of observations to
  provide statistically significant results.
• Perform observations across a wide range of times
  throughout several days to show variation by time
  of day.

6
Counting Device
To facilitate the accurate counting of many
students, a counting device was fashioned from a
handheld computer. The experimenter would press a
soft key on the screen for each student that was
passed. The date and time of the observation
sessions were recorded along with the gender of
each student, and whether or not they were seen
using a cellular phone.
7
Methods (cont'd)

• 32 qualified data collection sessions at random
  times during normal campus hours on eleven
  separate days between October 5th, 2005 and
  October 25th, 2005.
• Total of 1767 students observed.
• Average number of students observed/session 55
  (s40).

8
Usage by Gender
9
Percentage of Users by Time of Day
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Conclusion

• The majority of observation sessions show that
  female cellular phone usage was significantly
  higher than male, lending support to the
  hypothesis. (plt0.001, Male 9.57, n920, Female
  15.92, n847).
• This study shows that observable gender
  differences in cellular phone communication
  habits do exist and can be observed in the campus
  environment.

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Potential Future Research

• Is there a social conformity factor that needs to
  be considered such as whether people are talking
  to just be seen doing so or to fit in?
• Are these devices facilitating the building and
  maintenance of social networks, or could they be
  an impediment?
• Could cellular phones actually be taking priority
  over face to face conversation?

12
References

• Hale, C.J., Hannum, J.W., Espelage, D.L. (2005)
  Social Support and Physical HealthThe Importance
  of Belonging. Journal of American College Health.
  53, 6, 276-284.
• Lee, R.M., Keough, K.A., Sexton, J.D. (2002)
  Social Connectedness, Social Appraisal, and
  Perceived Stress in College Women and Men.
  Journal of Counseling
• Development. Summer 2002, 80, 355-361.
• Powers, R.S., Reiser, C. (2005) Gender and
  Self-Perceptions of Social Power. Social Behavior
  and Personality. 2005, 33, 6, 553-568.
• Rude, S.S., Burnham, B.L., (1995) Connectedness
  and Neediness Factors of the DEQ and SAS
  Dependency Scales. Cognitive Therapy and
  Research, 19, 3, 323-340.