[论文解读] Peer relations with mobile phone data: Best friends and family formation

Tamas David-Barrett, Anna Rotkirch+6 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Aug 25, 2017

Impact of Technology on Adolescents被引用 3

一句话总结

本研究利用2007年欧洲某国的匿名移动电话通话数据，分析人生各阶段的同龄及异性别同伴关系。研究发现，同性同伴的通话频率与时长在30–40岁达到峰值，尤其体现在女性群体中，表明在家庭组建阶段，挚友在成人社交网络中扮演着独特角色。

ABSTRACT

Earlier attempts to investigate the changes of the role of friendship in different life stages have failed due to lack of data. We close this gap by using a large data set of mobile phone calls from a European country in 2007, to study how the people's call patterns to their close social contacts are associated with age and gender of the callers. We hypothesize that (i) communication with peers, defined as callers of similar age, will be most important during the period of family formation and that (ii) the importance of best friends defined as same-sex callers of exactly the same age, will be stronger for women than for men. Results show that the frequency of phone calls with the same-sex peers in this population turns out to be relatively stable through life for both men and women. In line with the first hypothesis, there was a significant increase in the length of the phone calls for callers between ages 30 to 40 years. Partly in line with the second hypothesis, the increase in phone calls turned out to be particularly pronounced among females, although there were only minor gender differences in call frequencies. Furthermore, women tended to have long phone conversations with their same-age female friend, and also with somewhat older peers. In sum, we provide evidence from big data for the adult life stages at which peers are most important, and suggest that best friends appear to have a niche of their own in human sociality.

研究动机与目标

• 利用大规模移动电话数据，研究同伴沟通模式在成年期各阶段的变化。
• 检验同龄同伴互动（尤其是与挚友互动）是否在家庭组建阶段最为显著。
• 评估性别差异在同性同伴及挚友于社交网络中重要性方面的影响。
• 识别在通话频率与时长方面，同伴关系最为重要的生活阶段。

提出的方法

• 使用2007年欧洲某国的匿名移动电话通话记录，覆盖数百万匿名用户。
• 将“挚友”定义为性别相同且年龄完全相同的通话对象，以隔离社会相似性高的同伴关系。
• 按年龄与性别对通话者进行分组，分析各生命阶段通话频率与通话时长的趋势。
• 应用统计建模检测20–50岁之间通信模式的显著变化，尤其关注30–40岁区间。
• 使用按年龄划分的通话量与通话时长指标，评估同伴网络的相对重要性。
• 比较男性与女性的沟通模式，评估性别在同伴参与度上的差异。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 在哪个生命阶段，与同性同伴的通话最为频繁且时长最长？
• RQ2 与挚友（同龄、同性别）的通话模式在成年期各阶段如何随性别变化？
• RQ3 在家庭组建期（30–40岁）是否在男性或女性中出现同伴互动的显著峰值？
• RQ4 女性是否表现出比男性更强或更持久的同伴沟通，尤其是与同龄女性朋友的互动？
• RQ5 与同龄朋友相比，年长同性别同伴在女性沟通模式中扮演何种角色？

主要发现

• 30至40岁之间，与同性同伴的通话时长显著增加，支持了该阶段是同伴互动高峰的假设。
• 女性在30–40岁期间，与同龄女性挚友的通话频率与时长均显著上升。
• 尽管总体通话频率在男女之间相似，但女性与同龄女性同伴及略年长的同伴保持了更长的通话时间。
• 数据显示，同性同伴沟通在全生命周期中保持稳定，除30–40岁群体外无明显骤升或骤降。
• 挚友（同龄、同性别）在社交网络中形成一个独特类别，尤其对女性而言，表明其在成人社交网络中具有特定角色。
• 本研究基于大数据提供了实证证据，表明挚友在家庭组建阶段仍是社交核心，尤其对女性而言。