Texting content included the use of greetings at the beginning and end of the conversation, appropriate language, staying on topic, appropriate length of texts, and both asking and responding to peer questions. The text conversations were scored by examining whether the conversation as a whole was contextually appropriate. A summary of the operational definitions for the dependent variables and examples is presented in Table 2 .
Dependent variables
| Dependent measures | Operational definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The participant sent at least one text | The participant completed the text | 1. Opened the text app. 2. Touched the new message or previous message buttons. 3. Typed in name. Clicked on name. 4. Clicked on message box. 5. Typed in a message. 6. Sent the message |
| Appropriate beginning to the conversation | The participant said some form of the word hello at the beginning of the conversation | “Hi,” “Hi _____,” “Hello,” “Hey,” etc. |
| Appropriate language | The participant did not talk about inappropriate topics | Participant does not send a text to his or her peer about their bathroom habits |
| Length of the conversation and individual texts | The participant sent at least five texts per conversation and no single text was more than 4 lines. No one word single texts three times in a row and no repeated texts. | Five different texts bubbles in a single color and 1–4 lines of text per each bubble. There were not text bubbles in a row that contained only single words (e.g., “yes,” “cool,” or “fine”). No participant sent two texts that were the same (e.g., “I like candy,” “I like candy”). |
| Staying on topic | The text message the participant sent was related or in some way referenced the texts preceding it | Text from peer: “My favorite sport is baseball!,” response from participant: “That’s cool! I like soccer!” |
| Asking questions | The participant asked his/her peer at least one question per conversation | “What’s your favorite sport?,” “Do you have any siblings?” |
| Responding to questions | The participant responded to at least one question of his or her peers per conversation | “I like basketball,” “I have three sisters” |
| Novel response | The participant’s texts differed from the texts presented in the sample conversations | “I really love science class,” “It was fun chatting” |
| Appropriate end to the conversation | The participant said some form of the word goodbye at the end of the conversation. | “Bye,” “See ya,” “See you later,” etc. |
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