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Abstract
This thesis applied the theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL) in the context of long-distance relationships (LDRs) in order to examine communication behaviors that foster resilience. Data was collected from a sample of 348 individuals in heterosexual LDRs measuring individuals’ perception of communal orientation, stress appraisal, and coping behaviors, among other variables. Results indicated that a strong sense of communal orientation was positively associated with security-based stress appraisal, positive dyadic coping strategies, and resilience. Increased relationship maintenance was associated with communal orientation only when enacted by the self during separation, and when it was perceived to be enacted by the partner before and after separation. Results also revealed that security-based stress appraisal and positive dyadic coping strategies were positively associated with resilience, although relationship maintenance behaviors were not. Results indicate the importance of communal orientation in LDRs and highlight that partners’ communicative choices can both ameliorate or exacerbate the effects of distance depending on their stress appraisal and coping strategies.