Long-Distance Closeness 2
The Importance of Long-Distance Friendships
One increasingly common long-distance relationship is the long-distance friendship. With
the greater number of communication channels available to individuals every day, the impact of
geographic distance is decreasing, allowing us to form and maintain relationships with people
who live too far away for us to interact face-to-face with them frequently (Blieszner & Adams,
1992; Wood, 1995). Such friendships are common: Rohfling (1995) reported that 90% of the
individuals she surveyed reported having at least one close long-distance friend.
Not only are long-distance friendships of practical importance, but long-distance
relationships are important theoretically. They cast doubt about some underlying assumptions
about interpersonal relationships. For example, Guldner and Swensen (1995) found few
differences between romantic couples who were geographically close or long-distance and no
difference in relational satisfaction. They claim that this finding illustrates that frequency of
visits (face-to-face contact) is not essential for relational maintenance. Author (2001a) illustrated
that geographically close friends reported greater numbers of maintenance behaviors than long-
distance friends but did not have greater satisfaction levels. Differences in the maintenance
behaviors reported for each type of friend suggest that some maintenance behaviors may be more
important than others for maintaining a close, satisfactory friendship.
Another area where long-distance relationships are important theoretically is the concept
of relational closeness. Some researchers have even cast doubt concerning whether relationships
can survive an increase in distance (Allan, 1979; Davis, 1973). For example, Bersheid et al.,
(1989b) claim, “people who do not see each other frequently—for whatever reason, even
involuntary ‘good’ reasons—simply cannot be as close, other things being equal, as people who
do spend a lot of time together” (p. 794). However, the great majority of people do report close
Convention