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Proposed serial multiple mediation; relational closeness influenced by family allocentrism mediate the effect of societal level I-C on (a) ICT frequency and (b) ICT variety within LDFRs.
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Geographically dispersed family members utilize frequent and diverse modes of communication to maintain their relationships. In transnational families separated by national boarders, family members may face constraints on channel selection due to cultural and/or structural factors. We draw from media multiplexity theory (MMT) and the cultural dimen...
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Information and communication technologies enable migrants to maintain bonds with multiple communities. Little is known about the association between migrants’ connections to their country of origin and different integration practices in online and offline communities in the receiving society. We draw on a survey conducted amongst migrants in Icela...
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... MMT has been applied to various familial relationships, including with parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, and aunts and uncles (Balayar & Langlais, 2021;Barakji et al., 2019;Taylor & Ledbetter, 2017). Barakji et al. (2019) examined adults' emotionally closest long-distance familial relationship, with participants reporting their relational closeness, ICT use, and ICT use frequency with that family member. ...
... MMT has been applied to various familial relationships, including with parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, and aunts and uncles (Balayar & Langlais, 2021;Barakji et al., 2019;Taylor & Ledbetter, 2017). Barakji et al. (2019) examined adults' emotionally closest long-distance familial relationship, with participants reporting their relational closeness, ICT use, and ICT use frequency with that family member. Most participants reported on parental or sibling relationships. ...
... Most participants reported on parental or sibling relationships. Barakji et al. (2019) found that the frequency of communication overall was positively associated with relational closeness. Taylor and Ledbetter (2017) studied emerging young adults' communication with extended family members. ...
Sibling relationships are among the longest-lasting relationships in people’s lives. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), including voice calls, texting, and social media, help adult siblings keep in touch. The present study tests media multiplexity theory (MMT) in the context of adult sibling relationships. In the first study, a quota sample of American adults completed several name listing tasks to identify their most important relationship partners, ranging from 0 to 16 people, and 29% of participants listed at least one sibling. Multilevel modeling (MLM) results found that emotional closeness between siblings was positively associated with the frequency of phone calls and emails and negatively associated with the frequency of person-to-person media sharing. Showing mixed support for MMT, the number of ICTs used was negatively associated with emotional closeness, but the overall frequency of ICT use was positively associated with closeness. In the second study, a quota sample of American adults identified six of their closest friendships, and siblings constituted 2.9% of friends listed. MLM results found that the frequency of phone calls and text messages between siblings was positively associated with emotional closeness. The number of ICTs used was unrelated to emotional closeness, but the overall frequency of ICT use was positively associated with closeness, showing partial support for MMT. Both studies suggested that the frequency of communicating across ICTs was associated with greater life satisfaction, accounting for sibling closeness.
... Their sample population is limited to undergraduate students and their results are inconclusive but their analyses revealed that individuals scoring high in collectivism report that spending time face-to-face is associated with higher relationship closeness and love, particularly with parents. Barakji et al (2018) included culture when analysing how relational closeness is linked to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to maintain long-distance family relationships. ...
The increasing significance of technology-mediated social interactions gives rise to optimistic expectations that digitalisation leads to various overwhelmingly positive outcomes in all walks of life. Our study relies on the European Social Survey 10th wave data (2020–22) to investigate the role of digital status in the relationship between adult children and parents in 30 countries. We found media multiplexity in adult child–parent relationships to be coupled in interesting and partly counterintuitive ways with our novel measure of digital status that captures digital skills and the outcomes of ICT use. The country-specific binary logistic regression models revealed that digital skills and the emotional benefits of ICT use have a central role in using new and old technologies, whereas a positive practical outcome of ICT use decreased the frequency of adult child–parent contact. By shaping the opportunities of doing family digitally, the skills and outcomes aspects of digital status have independent roles in a key segment of intergenerational relationships of adult family members.
... However, with the dynamic nature of transnational processes, unique experiences of connectivity across distance might emerge. Barakji et al. (2019) acknowledged these unique experiences by including the critical role of culture and family allocentrism in relational closeness. Baldassar et al. (2016) also explained that technology's mere presence does not suggest that transnational relationships are evenly shared. ...
... Despite the costs of traveling and the difficult visa approval process, it has not been impossible for Iranian families to get together before the Travel Ban. As individuals from a developing country, where the government tightly regulates ICTs (Barakji et al., 2019), these families might have never had the same access to media technologies as countries equipped with the ICT infrastructure (Karraker, 2015). Regardless, ICTs such as messaging applications and social networking sites have constantly helped them maintain their familial ties (Gonzalez and Katz, 2016). ...
... Most Iranian students cannot leave the United States due to their single-entry student visas. Coming from a collectivist culture where connectedness is rooted in the family (Barakji et al., 2019), Iranian students are continuously frustrated by the lack of physical connection with their families. Barakji et al. (2019) noted that little is discovered about the specific factors that impact the ICT use in a longdistance family setting. ...
This study employs polymedia theory to analyze how Iranian students use information communication technologies (ICTs) to sustain relationships with their homeland-based parents under extended separation caused by the Travel Ban or Muslim Ban. The study draws on in-depth interviews to analyze the impact of the Ban on child-parent relationships in the context of the following three consequences of polymedia: sociality, power distribution, and emotional expression. Findings reveal that prolonged separation combined with how students and parents use ICTs shift the established cultural norms. Students use ICTs to represent their personas selectively and practice ambient concealing. The reversed asymmetry in relational power distribution grants them greater relationship control. Students also actively engage in dialogues with their parents to compensate for their absence. This study extends the existing research by examining how cultural norms influence the use of ICTs in distance relationships, and by turning attention to political factors exacerbating family separation.
... Individuals who support their family over themselves appear to prefer FtF interactions with their parents over and beyond online behaviors (besides texting). This finding adds to the results of Barakji et al. (2018), who found that increased communication, particularly via multimodality, brings families who are high in collectivism closer together. • The current study found that online behaviors were related to relationship closeness and love, but FtF contributed to higher levels of relationship quality. ...
... Individuals who support their family over themselves appear to prefer FtF interactions with their parents over and beyond online behaviors (besides texting). This finding adds to the results of Barakji et al. (2018), who found that increased communication, particularly via multimodality, brings families who are high in collectivism closer together. • The current study found that online behaviors were related to relationship closeness and love, but FtF contributed to higher levels of relationship quality. ...
... It is through communications that "family relationships are established and maintained, attachment and intimacy are created, children are socialized, gender roles and expectations are formed, decisions are made, problems and conflicts are resolved, social support is provided, and the physical and mental well-being of others are affected" (Caughlin et al., 2011, p. 683). In the large body of work on transnational families, studies on the relationships between family members across borders are prevalent; they refer directly to the role of face-to-face (FtF) communication during home visits (e.g., Baldassar, 2007), as well as to technology-mediated communication reliant on various information and communication technologies (ICTs) (e.g., Bacigalupe & Lambe, 2011;Barakji et al., 2019). ...
... Probably most of them [relatives]" (Asya, 12 years old, four in Poland). From the collected accounts, it can be argued that the rituals of virtual proximity, in the case of migrant children in Poland, do not seem to offer psychological connectedness to those who are physically apart (see Barakji et al., 2019). ...
Transnational intergenerational communication between migrant children and their grandparents depends on family relationships and the specific migration context, but also shifts in response to emerging factors, such as the current COVID-19 crisis. The goal of this study is to offer an agile typology of communication between migrant children in Poland and their grandparents in other countries. It points to two types of family communication practices, namely direct (face-to-face) and technology-mediated communication (TMC). Drawing on data from a qualitative study of immigrant children (n = 19) and parents (n = 18) conducted during the lockdown and associated travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, the study offers a typology of emotional, symbolic, mediated, and discontinuous modes of intergenera-tional family communications. It also indicates that cessation of direct contact during an "immobility regime" reduces the scope of intergenerational communication in transnational families.
... Families who use any mode of social media to regularly share their emotional triumphs and tragedies can experience social support, emotional connection, and reduced homesickness (Bacigalupe and Bräuninger, 2017;Brown, 2016;Kalavar et al., 2015;Lim and Pham, 2016;Nedelcu and Wyss, 2016;Platt et al., 2016;Pustułka, 2015). Frequent open communication is linked to increased feelings of intimacy and care and makes time spent apart more tolerable (Barakji et al., 2018;Cabalquinto, 2018c;Gonzalez and Katz, 2016;Kang, 2012;Shaker, 2018;Thulin and Vilhelmson, 2017). Close families can engage in very frequent communication and inexplicable breaks can trigger immediate concern for the well-being of the disconnected family member (Bacigalupe and Bräuninger, 2017;Barrie et al., 2019;Francisco, 2015;Shiau, 2015;Smith et al., 2012). ...
For families with limited opportunities for face-to-face interaction, social media can be a vital communication medium to help shape the family identity, maintain bonds, and accomplish shared tasks. This mixed-methods systematic review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method empirical studies published between 1997 and 2019 uses a convergent data-based framework to explore how long-distance families engage in family practices using various modes of social media. Fifty-one papers were synthesized into four domains: (1) doing family in a social media environment, (2) performing family through stories and rituals, (3) the nature of online communication practices, and (4) privacy, conflict, and the quality of family relationships. Given the value of patterned routines to families, research into the role of family kinkeepers is suggested. Finally, families use chat (messages) extensively for both assuring behaviour and conflict resolution so further investigation of the impact of this asynchronous mode is recommended.
... Some studies have examined the role of culture, particularly collectivism and individualism for multimodality via MMT. For example, Barakji et al. (2018) examined how multimodality predicted family closeness in transnational families and found that increased technological connections was associated with more closeness, but the variety of connections was not significant for relationship quality. A rationale Soc. ...
... The influence of these orientations on family closeness, however, has received limited attention. An exception is a study by Barakji et al. (2018) which examined the relationship between cultural orientation and relational closeness in long distance family relationships. The main result of this study suggested that relational closeness increased in collectivistic cultures the more they communicated, regardless of the medium in which they communicated (Barakji et al. 2018). ...
... An exception is a study by Barakji et al. (2018) which examined the relationship between cultural orientation and relational closeness in long distance family relationships. The main result of this study suggested that relational closeness increased in collectivistic cultures the more they communicated, regardless of the medium in which they communicated (Barakji et al. 2018). Because MMT does not account for collectivism or individualism, this theory assumes that these orientations are influenced the same way by multimodality, which may not be true. ...
Technology can be helpful for family relationships. Media multiplexity theory illustrates that the more technological connections (i.e., multimodality) an individual has with their family members, the stronger that relationship. Yet, this theory assumes that spending time face to face (FtF) is equitable to multimodality for relationship quality. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of online and offline interactions for the quality of family relationships. Data are from undergraduate students completing an online survey (N = 154). Results reveal that spending time FtF is better for the quality of relationships for one parent, but not the other. Although FtF was not significantly different for grandparent and sibling relationships, participants felt closer to siblings when they texted. Correlational analyses revealed that individuals scoring high in collectivism report that spending time FtF is associated with higher relationship closeness and love, particularly with parents, but not other family members. These results provide some evidence for the importance of spending quality time with family members, particularly for those who identify as collectivistic.
... Satisfaction may occur due to meeting individual's desire to communicate with romantic partner, while dissatisfaction may arise through frequent communication with other online friends. MMT has been employed in several interpersonal communication realms shedding light in the tie strength in such context as extended family relations (Taylor & Ledbetter, 2017), long distance friendships (Ruppel, Burke, & Cherney, 2018), enjoyment (Ledbetter, Taylor, & Mazer, 2016), and cultural and transnational influence (Barakji et al., 2018). ...
When in a romantic relationship, the experience of partners' use of multiple social media platforms varies from serving as a means of gratification to being a cause of discomfort in these relationships. To examine this new and expanding phenomenon, this study employed the media multiplexity theory to explore the roles of using multiple forms of social media when in a romantic relationship. Through the face-to-face, in-depth, and semistructured interviews of 25 romantic partners, the study examined romantic partners' experience of social media use and its influence on their romantic relationships. The results showed how multiplexity in social media use facilitates satisfaction , affection, jealousy, monitoring of romantic partners, infidelity, and distraction. The findings also revealed that while using social media to facilitate satisfaction in romantic relationships, if not appropriately used, the use of social media might lead to romantic dissatisfaction.
... These studies did not report the use of technology as a way of communication between LBW and their migrant partners. Information and communication technologies within transnational contexts influence the gendered, cultural, and structural aspects of familial and social relationships (Barakji et al., 2019;Cabanes & Acedera, 2012). This review highlights the need to consider the impact of information and communication technologies on transnational familial relationships and the impacts on LBW with a focus on gender dynamics and power relations. ...
Introduction: Despite the research on left-behind children, less is known about left-behind women across transnational spaces. The purpose of this scoping review was to assess the extent, range, and nature of the existing body of literature on left-behind women whose partners have migrated across borders. Method: This scoping review was guided by the five-step approach of Arksey and O’Malley. Fifty-four articles that focused on left-behind women across transnational spaces were included. Data were synthesized using descriptive statistics and conventional content analysis. Results: Left-behind women were primarily from Mexico ( n = 13) and the migrants’ place of destination was primarily the United States ( n = 14). We identified two major themes: (a) women’s social, economic and cultural conditions and (b) women’s well-being. Discussion: We identified significant knowledge gaps regarding left-behind women in the context of transnational migration. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
