This thought-provoking volume offers an innovative and intriguing approach to the study of long-distance relationships. Author Laura Stafford examines romantic long-distance relationships and then expands the conception of long-distance relationships to include other relational types. She summarizes literature across the social sciences on various types of long-distance relationships and extracts themes and patterns across the relational types. In so doing, she reconsiders approaches to and offers an expanded vision of relational maintenance.

By expanding her scope beyond romantic relationships, Stafford includes those that span residences and relational types, such as noncustodial parent-child and geographically and residentially separated adult children and parents. She contends that face-to-face interaction is not necessary to maintain healthy relationships, and questions the assumption that maintaining, rather than terminating, a particular relationship is always best for the involved parties.

With its interdisciplinary approach to challenging commonly held assumptions about communication and close relationships, Maintaining Long-Distance and Cross-Residential Relationships will be engaging reading for scholars in communication, psychology, sociology, mass communication, and family studies. It is also appropriate for special topics graduate courses on long-distance relationships and human communication, and will serve as a unique supplemental text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in interpersonal, relational, and family communication and family studies.

Reviews

"The book is appropriate as a supplemental text for upper-level graduate students in interpersonal and family studies."
-Book News

"Stafford takes a scholarly approach to understanding common but often misunderstood long-distance relationships (LDRs). Most impressive is her expansion of the LDRs beyond romantic relationships to include young children and parents, adult children and grandparents, peers, and computer-mediated relationships....this is a state-of-the-science handbook. Highly recommended."

-CHOICE

"Stafford's book is intended to be a supplement for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, sociology, mass communication, and family studies. Her book should be useful to anyone interested in studying, teaching, researching, or counseling interpersonal relationships."
-Journal of Social Issues

"This book gives fascinating insights into these forms of relationships, many of which have been underrepresented in the academic literature on relationships."
-Family Matters

"The book is appropriate as a supplemental text for upper-level graduate students in interpersonal and family studies."
-Book News

"Stafford takes a scholarly approach to understanding common but often misunderstood long-distance relationships (LDRs). Most impressive is her expansion of the LDRs beyond romantic relationships to include young children and parents, adult children and grandparents, peers, and computer-mediated relationships....this is a state-of-the-science handbook. Highly recommended."

-CHOICE

"Stafford's book is intended to be a supplement for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, sociology, mass communication, and family studies. Her book should be useful to anyone interested in studying, teaching, researching, or counseling interpersonal relationships."
-Journal of Social Issues

"This book gives fascinating insights into these forms of relationships, many of which have been underrepresented in the academic literature on relationships."
-Family Matters

Book Information
ISBN 9780805851656
Author Laura Stafford
Format Paperback
Page Count 164
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
Weight(grams) 310g