Abstract

Otieno Caroline Marygorety Akinyi

Long-distance relationships are becoming increasingly common. Studies show that about one third of all dating relationships among university students are long distance. The study attempts to investigate how socialization and gender outcomes in public universities, interact with distance learning status to predict marital stability from the perspective of female students. The objective of this paper is to investigate how gender and long distance studies affect marital stability. It integrates analysis of gender and relationship security in predicting stability of long-distance relationship. The study thus connects the distance relationships to the distance learning associated gender needs among female students and the resultant stability in their marital lives. The study design used mainly qualitative paradigm using case study approach and 10 Focus Group Discussion between 8-10 female students together using structured questionnaires to collect data from married students. 120 female students were purposively sampled to determine their consequent marital situations. The findings reveal that physical separation of partners is associated with increased distress and depression and reductions in relationship satisfaction. The continuous separation over a prolonged period of time due to educational needs has a direct impact on marital stability.