I think it arises in part because of the extreme disproportion between the length of time it takes to compose music, and the length of time it takes to hear it; you can spend days working on a musical idea that lasts only 30 seconds. After spending so much time working on a musical idea, it is easy to tire of it and want to start working on a different idea.
I think it also comes about because we just don't have all the tools we need to construct longer, motivically-related (and therefore organic) sections of music.
One suggestion to counteract this is to practice writing single lines of significant length, perhaps 32 bars or longer, without concerning yourself with harmony, counterpoint, or orchestration; focus only on building, or "spinning out," your line. This can help you to grow your musical ideas into longer entities, which in turn gives you a better sense of how to construct longer compositions with proportions and musical ideas that feel organic.
A term for melodies that are "spun" from limited motivic resources is fortspinnung; here is an example by J. S. Bach, from his Invention in D minor, BWV 775; the fortspinnung begins in bar 5:
For ideas that are colour based — the principal interest is harmonic, textural, or the orchestration — this technique works less well, but you may be be able to adapt it by writing your harmonic progression on one or two staves which continue for as long as the progression needs to last. You could also insert indications such as, "flutes and oboes here," "only use bass-register instruments," or "light, transparent texture," to guide you when you come back to orchestrate or otherwise expand your short score to its fuller form.
Do all musical materials need to be worked out to their full potential? Absolutely not! But a sense that none of the ideas has reached some kind of musical maturity may lead to a feeling of dissatisfaction about the composition in general for listeners.
Also, just because you work out an idea to achieve its full potential beforehand doesn't mean you have to use the idea in its entirety the first (or any) time the listener hears it. You could introduce it in segments, interrupted by a contrasting idea, gradually working its way to the full presentation of the idea.
Don't buy it? I have a theory that all composers are contrarians to varying degrees. When a teacher says, "avoid parallel fifths," an aspiring composer may say, "oh yeah? We'll just see about that!" and decide to write a piece using nothing but parallel fifths, and ditto for any other musical 'rule' or 'guideline.' So, even as I write this, a part of my brain is saying, "but wouldn't it be cool to write a piece with absolutely no sense of thematic growth or fulfillment whatsoever?
My answer would be, that if you feel that way, then give it a try! But perhaps not in my course… Centuries of musical practice suggest it is important to learn how to 'grow' your musical materials in a natural and organic way, which is why composition teachers often encourage their students to develop the skills and patience to work on this.
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