A Typology of U.S. Emerging Adults’ Online and Offline Connectedness with Extended Family

Emerging adulthood has changed dramatically in the last 30 years, in part due to the widespread adoption of communication technology. Despite studies showing that youth in the United States are communicating with extended family using technology, research on online interactions with non-parental relatives is lacking. Framed by intergenerational solidarity theory, this study identifies subgroups of U.S. emerging adults (N = 532; 18-29 years old) based on eight indicators of connectedness with extended family. Latent class analysis revealed four group: (1) Highly connected (18%), (2) Distant; technologically connected (36%), (3) Close; technologically connected (17%), and (4) Distant (28%). Participants identified cousins and aunts/uncles most frequently as extended family. Results show that 72% of participants are connecting with extended family online, even when they do not feel close to them. Findings support the idea that technology could be the means by which extended family members continue to play a role in the lives of young adults, especially when they are not seeing them frequently in-person.