How often should long distance couples visit one another?
This is one of many questions about the demographics of long distance relationships, that is, the easily quantifiable parts such as how far apart couples live, how often they visit or call one another, how long they were together as a geographically close couple prior to having to separate, and so forth. I break down long distance relationships into four broad areas demographics, the personality of each person in the couple, the support system for the relationship, and the quality of the relationship itself. Research has shown clearly that of these four components, demographics has the least to do with the success or failure of a long distance relationship. Couples therapists who focus on long distance relationships have understandably suggested frequent face-to-face visits. Yet when researchers carefully looked at this question, the largest and best designed studies found no relationship between how often couples visited one another and how likely they were to stay together. I realize
