A relational uncertainty analysis of jealousy, trust, and maintenance in long‐distance versus geographically close relationships

TLDR

The study applies an uncertainty framework to examine how uncertainty relates to jealousy, maintenance, and trust in long‑distance versus geographically close relationships. Data from 311 participants were analyzed using this framework to assess relationships among uncertainty, jealousy, maintenance, and trust. Relational uncertainty was positively linked to jealousy and negatively linked to maintenance behaviors and trust; GCRs did not show lower uncertainty than LDRs with some face‑to‑face contact, while LDRs with face‑to‑face contact were more certain than those without, and LDRs without face‑to‑face interaction used fewer maintenance behaviors and reported lower trust.

Abstract

This study uses an uncertainty framework to uncover the patterns of relationships between uncertainty, jealousy, maintenance, and trust in two types of long‐distance relationships (LDRs; both those without face‐to‐face contact and those with some face‐to‐face contact) and geographically close relationships (GCRs). Data were collected from 311 individuals. Results supported the hypothesized relationships, with relational uncertainty positively related to cognitive and emotional jealousy, negatively related to five maintenance behaviors, and negatively related to trust. Counter to predictions, individuals in GCRs did not experience less relational uncertainty than individuals in LDRs with some face‐to‐face contact, but those in LDRs with some face‐to‐face contact were significantly more certain of their relationships than were those in LDRs without face‐to‐face contact. Finally, individuals in long‐distance relationships with no face‐to‐face interaction were significantly less likely to use the maintenance behaviors of assurances or sharing tasks, and expressed significantly less trust than individuals in long‐distance relationships with some face‐to‐face interaction.