"Distance means so little when someone means so much." ~Unknown
At some point in time, many, if not most, couples experience forced separation. According tostatisticbrain.com, "32.5% of college students are in a long distance relationship;" sound familiar to you? Dual-career couples, or couples in which one or both partners must travel for work, also encounter regular separations that can lag for multiple days to months at a time. Also, the vast majority of military personnel are separated from their partners and families when deployed overseas. Despite the motto that "absence makes the heart grow fonder," living apart can have opposite, painful effects. Psychologist Susan K. Whitbourne states that long term research indicates "geographical proximity as one of the key factors that keeps close relationships close." Online psychological sites, such as OSU Group Counseling, are a great tool when needing assistance in coping with your long distance relationship.
Ji-yeon Lee and Carole Pistole are researches from Purdue University. In one of their research studies, Lee and Pistole compared college students in geographically close and distant relationships to figure out which personality factors were more closely related to satisfaction. They took a sample of 536 college students (61% female) and asked them to complete an online survey, answering a series of sample questions that measured anxiety such as "I need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by my partner" and avoidance with questions that included "I want to get close to my partner, but I keep pulling back."). People who are securely attached would disagree with both of these statements. People who are insecurely attached experience either high anxiety, avoidance, or both, so they would disagree with one or both of these statements.
The group was asked questions about how much they can self-disclose...