Long-Distance Relationships Doomed to Failure?

Long-distance relationships are seen as destined to fail, but are they actually creating stronger bonds than a geographically closer relationship? A recent paper published in the Journal of Communication found that people in long-distance relationships often have stronger bonds and deeper, communication than normal relationships.
Crystal Jiang of City University of Hong Kong and Jeffrey Hancock of Cornell University, asked dating couples in long-distance and geographically close relationships to report their daily interactions— face-to-face, phone calls, video chat, texting, instant messenger, and email. Over a week, they reported to what extent they experienced intimacy. They found that long-distance couples felt more intimate to each other, and this greater intimacy is driven by two tendencies: long-distance couples disclosed themselves more, and they idealized their partners' behaviours. These two tendencies become more manifested when they communicated in text-based, asynchronous and mobile media because they made more efforts to overcome the media constraints.
Recent statistics show that 3 million married couples in the US live apart; 25-50 percent college students are currently in long-distance relationships and up to 75 percent of them have engaged in one at some point.