Page 30 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

International Sojourners’ Adjustment in a Romantic Relationship Context
For some international sojourners, leaving home means leaving behind not just family and friends but also a romantic partner. One of the factors that poses difficulty in maintaining a romantic relationship is geographic distance ((Aylor, 2003; Mok, Wellman, & Basu, 2007). Geographic distance limits daily physical togetherness and hinders partners from seeing each other as much as they would like (Pistole & Roberts, 2011). Due to the lack of physical togetherness, long distance relationships (LDRR) often require more effort to maintain compared to geographically-close relationships (GCRR) (Aylor, 2003). Previous studies comparing LDRR and GCRR in terms of these relational adjustment processes showed mixed results: LDRR couples were less satisfied in their relationship than GCRR couples, according to Holt and Stone (1988); LDRR couples showed greater levels of satisfaction and stability than GCRR couples in a study by Stafford and Reske (1990); and several studies showed comparable levels of relationship satisfaction among LDRR and GCRR couples (Govaerts & Dixon, 1988; Guldner & Swensen, 1995; Roberts & Pistole, 2009). Given that LDRR can potentially be as satisfying as GCRR despite distance and reduced physical togetherness, communication should play a key role in relationship maintenance. According to Dindia (2003), “the quality of a relationship is determined by the quality of the communication in the relationship . . . Communication is central to relationship maintenance” (p. 24). Thus, it is important to examine how communication processes can mitigate the impact of distance.
Despite the ubiquity of SNS, limited research has been done to investigate its implications for LDRR (Fox, Warber, & Makstaller, 2013; Marshall, Bejanyan, Di Castro, & Lee, 2012). Earlier research on CMC in relationship maintenance focused extensively on LDRR; while studies on the use of SNS in romantic relationships are generally on GCRR (e.g., Fox et al., 2013; Marshall et al., 2012; Muise, Christofides, & Desmarais, 2009; Papp, Danielwicz, & Cayemberg, 2012; Tokunaga, 2011; Utz & Beukeboom, 2011). To my knowledge, no study directly investigated the use of SNS in LDRR. This dissertation project aims to contribute to existing literature by comparing SNS use for relationship maintenance among international sojourners in LDRR from individuals in GCRR (Chapter 4).
28 Chapter 1