Senior tugs on 'electronic tether'

Author: Mike Murali

On Tuesday, April 25, Elena Kennedy '06 traveled to D.C. to present the preliminary results of a study entitled "The Electronic Tether." Her work examines the continued influence that parents have on their children through frequent cellular phone contact.Kennedy, a psychology major, conducted the research at Middlebury College over much of the past year with the help of Assistant Professor of Psychology Barbara Hofer. "Professor Hofer actually came up with the concept of examining development in the context of frequent communication," said Kennedy of the project. "But during the summer and fall of this year, we worked collaboratively to frame the theoretical background of the study and design the surveys themselves."

Although Kennedy and the Psychology Department do not plan to release the study's results in their entirety for several weeks, Kennedy said "The Electronic Tether" describes communication between parents and their college-age children and its effects on the students' autonomy, which has been identified in past research as crucial to their development. "We hope this latest research will be beneficial to college students and their parents, as well as to college administrators, educators, deans and counselors."

Said Hofer, "With this research we wanted to examine how technological changes have influenced the transition to adulthood during the college years. The issue may not be simply how often students and parents talk, but also what they talk about, who initiates the contact and the degree to which parents give students room to grow and experiment, make decisions and choices and learn to seek guidance from other sources."

Kennedy's research - part of her senior thesis -will be presented at the "Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill" conference in D.C. During the conference, undergraduate students have a chance to meet their Congressional representatives and to present their research on a large poster displayed in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. In addition to showing off their research, students attending the conference also have the opportunity to tour the National Institute of Health (NIH), NASA and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

The event is sponsored by the Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR), a national nonprofit organization founded in 1978 that represents more than 900 colleges and universities. According to their Web site, the CUR and its affiliated colleges, universities and individuals "share a focus on providing undergraduate research opportunities for faculty and students at predominantly undergraduate institutions." One of the organization's most important goals is to help colleges "enhance their teaching and contribution to society by remaining active in research and by involving undergraduates in research."

Among the study's findings that have been made available:

- Before college, most students anticipated parent communication once a week, but actually communicated 10 times per week on average. Parents initiate most of the contact.

- Students reported they were satisfied with their parental communications, though 28 percent would like more communication with their fathers.

- Students who initiated contact with parents three times a week were more likely to be emotionally dependent on their parents and to report parental involvement in their academics.

- Students who take more responsibility for academic life were more satisfied with academic performance and overall college experience.

-Seventy-five percent of parents say they are closer to their children than they were to their parents.

Kennedy said she hopes to finalize her results with the inclusion of data from student behavior after the first semester of college.