Date of Completion
1-31-2014
Embargo Period
7-29-2014
Keywords
Long distance relationship, mediated communication, relationship maitenance, emotinal support, emotional expression
Major Advisor
Dr. C. Arthur VanLear
Associate Advisor
Dr. Ross Buck
Associate Advisor
Dr. David Atkin
Field of Study
Communication Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Open Access
Campus Access
Abstract
Due to prevalence of long distance relationship and popularity of computer use in relationship maintenance, the current study was interested in exploring how college students may make better use of the email messages to communicate their emotions and support to their long distance romantic relationship partners. Participants (N=143) were requested to submit 2 emails sent to their long distance partner and complete a relational information questionnaire. Through the detailed analysis of the email messages, the current study found out that the uses of emotional words and person centered supportive messages play important roles in maintaining long distance relationships. In particular, the regression analysis results suggested that positive emotional words and negative words have different impacts on the various emotional and relational outcome variables. The implications of the findings for maintaining long distance relationships were also discussed.
Recommended Citation
Li, Shu, "Emotional Expression and Support: How College Students Use Email to Maintain their Long Distance Romantic Relationships" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 447.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/dissertations/447