Exploring the Validity of SMS Text Messaging As a Unique Measurement Strategy for Measuring Daily Life Activity of Emerging Adults

Introduction: SMS ‘Short Message Service’ text messaging is a prevalent form of communication in the lives of emerging adults. Recently, the use of SMS text messaging has become a convenient data collection tool. However, there is still limited research on the use of automated text messaging as a data collection method in prevention research. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of the use of a text messaging survey as a unique measurement strategy for measuring the daily activity in a sample of emerging adults regarding alcohol use, substance use, school activity, mood, and parental and peer interaction.

Methods:This study followed 227 ethnically diverse emerging adults (53.7% female, baseline age=18-19) who participated in an automated SMS texting survey. In this texting survey, there were 4 bursts of texting that took place over a year and a half. Each burst included 6 surveys, which were sent out every other day over the course of two weeks. The goal of this study is to focus on the response rates of the items in the four bursts of the texting survey, the response stability across the first two bursts of the texting survey, and a comparison between the responses of the texting questions to the responses on a self-report questionnaire completed before the texting survey.

Results:Descriptive data on basic rates and stability revealed that rates of alcohol use increased over time, while marijuana use did not. Correlational analyses were conducted across Burst 1 and Burst 2 of the data. Findings revealed response stability for participating subjects across Burst 1 and Burst 2 of the texting data. Most of the questions were strongly associated across bursts, while one question regarding drug use was not significantly linked across bursts. Preliminary correlations were conducted to compare the response rates of a texting survey to a self-report questionnaire. Findings revealed that responses for alcohol and marijuana questions for the first burst of the texting survey and the written self-report survey were significantly associated.

Conclusions: These findings provide a snapshot of the daily life in a sample of emerging adults and highlight the importance of evaluating the validity of SMS text messaging as a potential data collection device and assessor of predictive validity of constructs, such as alcohol and substance use, in prevention research methods.