College Essay: Exploring the Causes and Effects of LDR (Sociology)

This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of long-distance relationships (LDRs), examining the underlying causes and their subsequent effects on individuals and relationships. It identifies various factors that lead to LDRs, including work, education, and family circumstances, highlighting that these are often driven by compulsion rather than choice. The essay then explores the repercussions of LDRs, such as the potential for decreased attention, time constraints, and insecurities, which can lead to relational issues and, in some cases, breakups. It touches upon the importance of time spent together, the need for emotional support, and the challenges of maintaining intimacy across distances, ultimately concluding that while LDRs can create a soft corner for the suffering person, the effects are mostly negative. The essay references research and theories to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive analysis of the complexities of LDRs.

RUNNING HEAD- LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS 1
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE COLLEGE
SUBMISSION DATE-
COURSE ID-
TITLE-
CAUSE AND EFFECT PAPER
LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS

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ABSTRACT
The paper talks about the cause and effects of a situation that is created in the social
setting. A society is made up of humans and humans are to work with various conditions so
as to survive in a society. These conditions have their reasons and they also give birth to
various effects which are studied by the sociologists and the theorists so as to understand the
causes of different living conditions in a society and their effects on human beings.
INTRODUCTION
Long distance relationship is basically an emotionally bound relation between two
human beings with a geographical gap between them. It is mostly taken in terms of a boy and
a girl but it might include friends, extended families or marriage partners. Long distance
relationships are usually tested in the relationship dynamics with their result yet being found
(Stafford "Long-Distance Relationships"). People suggest that long distance relationships do
not work perfectly as it does not involve a cognitive approach of intimacy, care and emotions.
Constructing space and time amongst the partners involved in a long distance relationship is
an important part to keep up the relationship.
CAUSES BEHIND LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS
LDR’s include a variety of reasons behind it. It is not a matter of choice between two
partners but mostly, a compulsion or a forced activity due to work or education. Work might
include major duties to be served, like, military duty, off-city transfers, training courses or
important responsibilities to be served. Whereas, education might be a reason for two people
to live apart geographically for the sake of proper studies and career making. At time,
families living in different cities create the reason behind a long distance relationship
amongst few people or two human beings (Stafford "Long-Distance Relationships").
A very few percentage of people separate themselves without any external reason and
stay away as a matter of choice. This choice can also become as a reason of separation
between the two people.
EFFECTS OF A LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP

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Researches show that the success rate of long distance relationships is usually low and
the main reasons behind the separation or two people living in a LDR are lack of attention,
time and extreme space provided to a person. This leads to attention, care and boundary
issues between them. It might also lead to insecurities in absence of the one person and often
lead to regular fights and ultimately a break-up between the people (Starr).
The effects of a long distance relationship are many and cannot be counted in a
theoretical basis at time, but most of times, they include time issues. The downtime- crisis
theory says that a relationship, to work efficiently, needs sufficient amount of time to be
spent together in crisis and problems. Lack of time spent together, leads to seeking of support
of other people and loss of attention towards the relationship (Starr).
There are a set of important dates that have to be celebrated in a relationship and a
LDR might not be able to fulfil the necessity of celebrating good events of life together and it
would lead to despair and sadness which affects the positivity of a relationship and can ruin it
in a lot of ways.
Apart from time, care and attention, it is very human to feel lonely and needy at times
and as per human psychology, a vulnerable mind usually needs intimate connections to feel
complete at their low times and LDR might stop people from supporting each other in human
or celebrate together, leading to issues which deviate the relationships. It tends to divert a
human mind and get attracted to several other things present in life. These problems usually
lead to lack of communication, trust and growth of insecurities between two people
(Waterman, Wesche, Leavitt, Jones, & Lefkowitz 2017).
There are chances of relational uncertainty which includes the perception of
involvement between two people creates the degree of confidence in their relationships. So,
without being involved, it is impossible to avoid the uncertainties of separation between the
two people (Santos 2017).
Same way, lack of physical contact between couples as a result of long distance
relationships often lead to lacking of attachment between the two declining their rate of
success. It is not always necessary for relationships to not work because of the long distance
as it also creates a soft corner for the person suffering along with you, but at last it becomes a
reason of suffering and therefore effects of causes of long distance relationships are mostly
negative.

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REFERENCES
Santos, Rich. “A Theory On Why Long Distance Relationships Don't Work.” Marie Claire, Marie
Claire, 11 Oct. 2017, www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/a1485/long-distance-failure-080426/.
Stafford, Laura. “Long-Distance Relationships.” Encyclopedia of Human Relationships,
doi:10.4135/9781412958479.n321.
Starr, Claudia. “Long Distance Relationships.” Penn State Behrend,
behrend.psu.edu/student-life/student-services/personal-counseling/student-resources/long-distance-
relationships.
Waterman, Emily A, et al. “Long-Distance Dating Relationships, Relationship Dissolution, and College
Adjustment.” Emerging Adulthood (Print), U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2017,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5635840/.