Methods

A survey was developed to examine the relationships among physical location, type of friendship, and interpersonal closeness. Physical location had two conditions: on campus and at home. Type of relationship also had two conditions: friends at home and friends at college. Interpersonal closeness was measured using Wheeless’s Interpersonal Solidarity Scale. According to Wheeless et al. (1984), interpersonal solidarity refers to interpersonal closeness in various aspects including social and psychological dimensions. Cupach and Messman (1999) applied this concept to understand friendship. Given the ways people use the mobile phone for sustaining various relational levels, the concept of interpersonal solidarity is useful to examine the

question of how mobile technologies are associated with interpersonal levels of closeness.