Instant Messaging, Page 19
Significant differences also emerged in terms of the composition of the relationships
maintained via IM. Relationships reported on during the second stage of data collection were
primarily cross-sex (66%) rather than same-sex (34%),
2
(1, n = 232) = 22.96, p < .001. Cross-
sex relationships were the majority of acquaintances (90%), friends (68%), and romantic
relationships (100%) reported on by the IM group. Consistent with the stage one data, the
majority of IM interactions reported on involved a partner in a different geographic location. 190
(81.90%) of the interactions reported upon involved a distant partner, whereas 42 (18.10%)
involved one nearby,
2
(1, n = 232) = 93.14, p < .001.
In order to provide a broader context for understanding the role of IM in the overall
maintenance of relationships, participants rated how regularly (9 = Very) they used IM, e-mail,
telephone (traditional and cellular), and FtF interaction to maintain the relationship reported on
in stage two. Table 2 shows the relevant descriptive statistics for the IM group. Participants
reported using IM with the greatest regularity, followed by FtF interaction, e-mail, traditional
telephone, and cellular telephone. Table 2 also shows the correlations among the different
communication channels and indicates that IM use was significantly associated with each form
of communication, with e-mail reflecting the association of the greatest magnitude and FtF the
smallest.
Research Questions 4, 5, and 6
Research Questions 4 through 6 asked about IM as everyday communication. The ICR (Duck
et al., 1991) data collected during the second stage of the study were assessed in order to address
each question. Because the present study employed the ICR in a new context, a preliminary
analysis of its underlying structure was conducted through principle components factor analysis
with Varimax rotation for the overall sample as well as the two sub-samples. The initial analysis
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