Text-based communication, such as a mobile phone email, is the essential communication tool for Japanese youth. In this paper, the authors conducted a paper-based survey in order to investigate what kind of patterns of emotional transmission are used when composing text-based messages to four kinds of emotional scenarios (i.e. joy, sadness, anger, and guilt). 91 first-year students at a Japanese university were given four scenarios each with three questionnaires for each scenario. The questionnaires addressed the emotions the participants experienced, the emotions the participants wanted to convey to their partners, and the emotions the participants anticipated their partners would experience. The relationships among the emotions experienced, conveyed, and anticipated were considered in determining the patterns of emotional transmission. According to the results, one pattern of emotional transmission was seen in joy and guilt scenarios, while two or more patterns of emotional transmission were seen in sad or angry scenarios. That is, when sadness or anger is involved, it is considered that emotional transmissions become more complicated leading to the use of more and different emotional transmission patterns. (Contains 18 figures, 10 tables, and 1 note.)