The role of trait anxiety and impression management in adolescents' use of the Short Message Service on mobile telephones

Increased use of mobile phones and Short Message Service (SMS) has not resulted in increased research into its use. However, the substantial body of research on other forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) such as the internet could provide insight into the SMS phenomenon. The present study evaluated the relationship between the personality dimension of extraversion/introversion and SMS use to determine whether the finding that introverts behave in a more extraverted, disinhibited way when using CMC also applies to SMS use. Adolescents aged 15 to 19 years completed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell, Cattell, & Cattell, 1993) and a questionnaire on their SMS use. Qualified support was found for the idea that adolescents may use a degree of virtual bravado (Williams et al., 2002) when using SMS, behaving in ways that are different from that predicted by their personality profiles. Consistent with the uses and gratifications model (Blumler & Katz, 1974) adolescents were found to use SMS primarily for social purposes. No gender differences in the rates of use were found, although females reported using SMS for both social and practical reasons. Overall, this study supports the view that SMS facilitates aspects of adolescent social interaction.