Texting while driving is a growing problem that has serious, and sometimes fatal, consequences. Despite laws enacted to curb this behavior, the problem continues to grow. Discovering factors that can reduce such risky behavior can significantly contribute to research, as well as save lives and reduce property damage. This study developed a model to explore the motivations that cause a driver to send messages. The model evaluates the effects that boredom, social relationships, social anxiety, and social gratification (BRAG) have upon a driver’s frequency of typing text messages. In addition, the perceived severity of the consequences and the presence of a passenger were also be evaluated for any moderating effects on a driver’s texting. Furthermore, a set of hypotheses based on the BRAG model were presented. To investigate these hypotheses, a survey instrument was developed and data was collected from 297 respondents at a mid-sized regional university in the Pacific North west of the United States. Prior to the distribution of the survey, an expert panel and a pilot study were used to ensure the reliability of the instrument. Partial least squares structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to evaluate the predictive validity of the BRAG model. This evaluation included an assessment of the reflective measures, as well as a detailed analysis of the structural model. Additionally, knowledge visualization techniques were used to emphasize the significance of the findings. The results of this analysis showed that the social gratification one receives from maintaining their social relationships is a significant predictor of texting while driving. Additionally, the results showed that drivers continued to text, regardless of the consequences. However, boredom and social anxiety were not significant predictors of texting while driving. This study makes important contributions to the information systems body of knowledge and has implications for state and local lawmakers, in addition to public health officials. Prior research has shown that bored or anxious individuals use texting to relieve those feelings of discomfort. However, this study did not extend those findings to drivers. As this study found that laws banning texting while driving do not deter this behavior, public health officials and lawmakers should investigate other means of deterring texting while driving, given the significant impact it has on the increase of fatal car accidents in recent years.

There is no current research on the relationship between texting frequency, social competency development, and the moderating effect of gender in adolescents. A quantitative study involving a moderation design using multiple regression assisted in determining the relationship between cell phone texting and gender and whether or not the interaction of these variables predicted social competency development. The theoretical base that grounded this study was the taxonomic model of social competence, which identified the importance of examining social awareness abilities such as communication, an essential component for the development of social competency. The study included 74 participants. The participants were parents who completed observation checklists of their adolescent children and reported on skills related to social competency development using the Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales-Parent Form. A general measure of cell phone use was also reported by participants. The results showed that frequency of texting and gender predicted adolescent social competency. Adolescents who texted frequently had lower social competency scores. Adolescent females had higher social competency than adolescent males. Gender was not found to moderate the relationship between the variables. The results can be used to development curricula, programs, and screening tools for counseling psychologists and other professionals to use to improve the lives of adolescents.

<p>Text communication is often perceived as lacking some components of communication that are essential in sustaining interaction or conversation. This interaction incoherency tends to make&nbsp / text communication plastic. It is traditionally devoid of intonation, pitch, gesture, facial expression and visual or auditory cues. Nevertheless, Instant Messaging (IM), a form of text communication is on the upward uptake both on PCs and on mobile handhelds. There is a need to rubberise this plastic text messaging to improve co-presence for text communications thereby improving&nbsp / synchronous textual discussion, especially on handheld devices. One element of interaction is gesture, seen as a natural way of conversing. Attaining some level of interaction naturalism&nbsp / requires improving synchronous communication spontaneity, partly achieved by enhancing input mechanisms. To enhance input mechanisms for interactive text-based chat on mobile devices,&nbsp / there is a need to facilitate gesture input. Enhancement is achievable in a number of ways, such as input mechanism redesigning and input offering adaptation. This thesis explores affective gesture mode on interface redesign as an input offering adaptation. This is done without a major physical reconstruction of handheld devices. This thesis presents a text only IM system built on&nbsp / Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). It was developed with a novel user-defined hotkey implemented as a one-click context menu to &ldquo / fast-track&rdquo / text-gestures and emoticons. A hybrid quantitative and qualitative approach was taken to enable data triangulation. Results from experimental trials show that an&nbsp / Affective Gesture (AG)approach improved IM chat spontaneity/response. Feedback from the user trials affirms that AG hotkey improves chat responsiveness, thus enhancing chat spontaneity.</p>

<p>Text communication is often perceived as lacking some components of communication that are essential in sustaining interaction or conversation. This interaction incoherency tends to make&nbsp / text communication plastic. It is traditionally devoid of intonation, pitch, gesture, facial expression and visual or auditory cues. Nevertheless, Instant Messaging (IM), a form of text communication is on the upward uptake both on PCs and on mobile handhelds. There is a need to rubberise this plastic text messaging to improve co-presence for text communications thereby improving&nbsp / synchronous textual discussion, especially on handheld devices. One element of interaction is gesture, seen as a natural way of conversing. Attaining some level of interaction naturalism&nbsp / requires improving synchronous communication spontaneity, partly achieved by enhancing input mechanisms. To enhance input mechanisms for interactive text-based chat on mobile devices,&nbsp / there is a need to facilitate gesture input. Enhancement is achievable in a number of ways, such as input mechanism redesigning and input offering adaptation. This thesis explores affective gesture mode on interface redesign as an input offering adaptation. This is done without a major physical reconstruction of handheld devices. This thesis presents a text only IM system built on&nbsp / Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). It was developed with a novel user-defined hotkey implemented as a one-click context menu to &ldquo / fast-track&rdquo / text-gestures and emoticons. A hybrid quantitative and qualitative approach was taken to enable data triangulation. Results from experimental trials show that an&nbsp / Affective Gesture (AG)approach improved IM chat spontaneity/response. Feedback from the user trials affirms that AG hotkey improves chat responsiveness, thus enhancing chat spontaneity.</p>

Introduction: This study moves to examine the prevalence of risky driving behaviors and deficiency of communication pertinent to topics related to safe driving among adolescents in central Appalachia. Even though plenty of research displays the consequences associated with driving, drivers continue to take part in risky behaviors such as texting while driving, riding in a vehicle without wearing a seatbelt, and riding in a vehicle with someone who has been drinking. Methods: Participants of the study included three high schools in Southwest Virginia consisting of 385 11th and 12th grade students. Students were administered a paper-pencil survey either during homeroom or last period with questions taken from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. Results: The results of the study indicate the frequent occurrence of young drivers engaging in risky driving behaviors associated with texting while driving and not wearing a seatbelt as both passenger and driver in a vehicle. Additionally, the results of the study indicate that there is a lack of healthcare provider communication related to risks associated with driving. This information is crucial because the data demonstrates the missed opportunity to provide better education to adolescents on how they can prevent harm to their lives or the lives of other citizens while driving. Conclusion: After analyzing these results, it becomes evident that more education about safe driving behaviors is crucial for benefiting the young drivers of this region. Because road injury is the leading cause of death among adolescents, it is paramount to provide educational resources to young drivers to decrease the impact of injuries and deaths related to risky driving behaviors. There resides a missed opportunity to educate adolescents about behaviors that may risk their lives or those of their peers and loved ones. In addition, researchers can conduct further studies to examine effective safe driving education programs to decrease the risk behaviors commonly engaged in by adolescent drivers.

An online survey exploring the patterns of adult text-message use was completed by 150 traditional college age young adults ages 18-24 and 171 adults ages 25-68. Because youth traditionally are among the first group to adopt new communication technologies, much research has been conducted among the adolescent and young adult population regarding the prevalence and importance of text-messaging; however, a research deficit exists regarding adult textmessage use. Data gathered from this survey were categorized and analyzed for emergent content regarding the use of text-messaging, what roll texting plays in adult's communication patterns, the sociological impact of text-messaging on survey respondents, and to examine the prevalence of this technology in adults' lives.

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The main motivation for the development of various strategies to represent written text in a concise way among mobile phone users all over the world is the need to communicate full messages in abridged forms in order to save time, energy and money. These alternative forms of words and phrases are especially employed by the youth. In this paper, the innovative adaptation of global SMS texting trends in the form of intricate abbreviation and contraction of words and phrases in Kiswahili in Tanzania is examined and compared with trends in SMS texting language in English in Ghana. Using empirical data made up of SMS texts from students of the University of Dar es Salaam and University of Ghana, localized as well as convergent and divergent trends and the socio-pragmatic motivations of the phenomena are analysed and discussed.

Esta pesquisa busca identificar e analisar o uso do método texto-prova de interpretação bíblica entre os adventistas do sétimo dia (1986-2013) a partir dos materiais de orientação sobre o estilo de vida do jovem adventista, e sua influência sobre a hermenêutica da juventude adventista. O primeiro capítulo faz uma descrição histórica do "método texto-prova", sua origem e presença no cristianismo em geral e no adventismo em particular. Também faz uma distinção entre tal método e outros recursos hermenêuticos utilizados na teologia adventista, e uma breve avaliação do método à luz dos princípios hermenêuticos oficiais da Igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia. O segundo capítulo verifica a presença do método texto-prova em materiais de orientação sobre o estilo de vida do jovem adventista, produzidos e divulgados pela Igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia no período de 1986-2013. Finalmente, o terceiro capítulo avalia a influência do uso do "método texto-prova na espiritualidade e na formação hermenêutica dos jovens adventistas, utilizando-se da teoria dos Estágios da fé, de James Fowler. / This research aims to identify and analyze the use of the biblical interpretation method named "proof-text method" among Seventh-day Adventists (1986-2013) in the literature about the lifestyle of young Adventist, and its influence on the hermeneutics of Adventist youth. The first chapter is a historical description of the "proof-text method", its origins and presence in Christianity in general and in particular in Adventism. It also makes a distinction between this method and other hermeneutical resources used in Adventist theology, and a brief review of the method in the light of adventist official hermeneutical principles. The second chapter assesses the presence of the "proof-text method" in guidance materials on the lifestyle of young Adventist, produced and published by the Adventist Church Seventh Day in the 1986-2013 period. Finally, the third chapter analyzes the influence of the use of the "proof-text method" in spirituality and hermeneutical training of young Adventists, using the theory of "Stages of Faith" proposed by James Fowler.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Text communication is often perceived as lacking some components of communication that are essential in sustaining interaction or conversation. This interaction incoherency tends to make text communication plastic. It is traditionally devoid of intonation, pitch, gesture, facial expression and visual or auditory cues. Nevertheless, Instant Messaging (IM), a form of text communication is on the upward uptake both on PCs and on mobile handhelds. There is a need to rubberise this plastic text messaging to improve co-presence for text communications thereby improving synchronous textual discussion, especially on handheld devices. One element of interaction is gesture, seen as a natural way of conversing. Attaining some level of interaction naturalism requires improving synchronous communication spontaneity, partly achieved by enhancing input mechanisms. To enhance input mechanisms for interactive text-based chat on mobile devices, there is a need to facilitate gesture input. Enhancement is achievable in a number of ways, such as input mechanism redesigning and input offering adaptation. This thesis explores affective gesture mode on interface redesign as an input offering adaptation. This is done without a major physical reconstruction of handheld devices. This thesis presents a text only IM system built on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). It was developed with a novel user-defined hotkey implemented as a one-click context menu to "fast-track" text-gestures and emoticons. A hybrid quantitative and qualitative approach was taken to enable data triangulation. Results from experimental trials show that an Affective Gesture (AG) approach improved IM chat spontaneity/response. Feedback from the user trials affirms that AG hotkey improves chat responsiveness, thus enhancing chat spontaneity.