Parents’ mobile relational maintenance in resource-constrained contexts: Barriers and facilitating access conditions

Abstract

Mobile phones have become central to family members’ daily communication. This study investigates the material and skills access barriers that parents of adolescents in resource-constrained contexts face for mobile relational maintenance. Following an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, interviews with parents in Bogotá, Colombia, explored how they managed to keep in touch with their children despite facing access barriers and how these barriers still affected their parent–child mobile interactions. A survey was conducted in the quantitative phase to confirm the relationship patterns suggested by qualitative findings. Financial, cognitive, and environmental resources constituted access barriers. Despite gaining material access through alternative social and environmental resources, the barriers they faced still influenced the nature and frequency of their parent–child mobile interactions. Findings also showed that cognitive barriers, observed as parents’ low levels of perceived capability to learn how to use mobile phones, affected parents’ text messaging through their acquisition of skills.