Cross - National Marriages: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

This paper reviewing the available literature on cross-national marriage (in English) is divided into three section. First, the 33 studies reviewed are classified into three types, each with a dominant theme: war bride/colonizer marriages-- isolation and alienation, educated Western non Western marriages--wives cultural adjustment and marginality, and educated WesternWestern marriages -- wives’ desire for bi-lingual children and career fulfillment. Second, ways in which this body of literature fails to represent the phenomenon of cross-national marriage are identified, suggesting directions for future research. Limitations of this literature include: small, non-random samples; emphasis on foreign wives’ experiences; focus on the couple; emphasis on Americans in cross-national marriages. Third, tentative generalizations are proposed based on these studies: participants in cross-national marriages are free, in various ways, from strong cultural constraints; they desire to maintain a bi-cultural identity; they generally conform to the cultural standards of the country of residence; adjustment is easier when the couple resides in the wife’s country; social attitudes about racial/cultural differences are more the source of conflict than the differences themselves.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 97 citations exist upstream.