Theories

A few theories have been developed to measure various dimensions of marital relationship;

most were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s. To name a few, there are theories of measuring marital satisfaction such as Theory of Marital Satisfaction (Burr, 1973), Model of Marital Satisfaction (Miller, 1976), Theory of Marital Satisfaction of Parents (Rollins & Galligan, 1978), and Symbolic Interaction Theory of Marital Satisfaction (Burr, et al., 1979). There are also theories to measure marital quality or instability such as Inductive Theory of Marital Quality and Stability, the six-item Quality Index (Norton, 1983); the five-item Marital Instability (booth, Johnson, & Edwards, 1983), The Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (IOS; Aron, Aron, &

Smollan, 1992). And for assessing marital adjustment, Spanier’s (1976) Dyadic Adjustment Scale has been one of the most frequently used scales.

Although variables such as marital satisfaction, marital quality, marital happiness, marital well-being, marital adjustment have been the foci for the past decades, there has been no clear

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agreement on these concepts. Spanier and Lewis (1980) summarized about the definitional ambiguity of the research studies on marital relationships in the 1970s and argued about the ambiguity of these concepts which creates a considerable confusion (Sabatelli, 1988).

Amato et al. (2007) have reviewed the marriage changing in America by using two national surveys of 1980 and 2000, and concluded that times have changed in that marriage is becoming one lifestyle that many choose instead of a privileged social status (pp. 1-2). This conclusion reflects the individualistic nature of the U.S. culture in that people perceive marriage as an individual choice. Marry or not, marry early or late are viewed as decisions that individuals should make by themselves with full awareness of taking responsibilities for whatever they choose. The same situation may apply to couples’ choice of having children, as the survey in 2000 revealed, only few couples had children. Amato et al. also reported that later age at marriage indicates lower divorce tendency and higher marital satisfaction, economic security together with gender equality are positively related to marital quality and marital satisfaction.

Gender equality, together with economic security appear to be a “good recipe” for ensuring marital success. With wives’ unemployment declining and employment increasing, income had an indirect effect on martial quality. Marriages became more egalitarian over time, sharing house chores and playing fair in household labor predicted higher marital quality. The results of this study have revealed the same tendency regarding the Chinese wives in seeking egalitarianism and sharing house chores which will lead to higher marital satisfaction.

7. Interethnic/Interracial Marriage in the West

With most research studies on marriage conducted in the U.S. with U.S. Americans as their main participants, some studies focused on other cultures, races or ethnicities, or interethnic/interracial marriage (Bizman, 1987; Bugay & Delevi, 2010; Dainton, 2015; Fu &

Wolfinger, 2011; Gaines, et al., 2015; Hanassabe & Tidwell, 1998; Liversage, 2012). The

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majority of intercultural marriages in the U.S. are ones in which one partner is non-Hispanic white and the other partner is of Hispanic descent (Berg, 1998). The number of such intercultural marriages in this country has doubled to more than a million since 1970 (Crohn, 1998). For example, Bizman (1987) examined perceived causes and compatibility of interethnic marriage in Israel; Hanassabe and Tidwell (1998) investigated Iranians living in the U.S.; Bugay and Delevi (2010) examined Turkish’s perceptions of meaning of life focusing on Turkish who studied in the U.S., and Schuehs (2015) discussed the barriers to interracial marriage between U.S. citizens and undocumented Latino/a immigrants.

Despite that fact that various dimensions of marital relationships have been constantly and frequently examined, other cultures which may be similar to or different from the U.S. culture have not been thoroughly explored. The results that were reported contain western (mainly American) cultural biases and were assumed adaptable to other cultures such as Asian countries which have much greater diverse cultural backgrounds and may possess very different characteristics. For example, Primary Communication Inventory is used to measure marital adjustment, emphasizing that verbal communication is key to good marital adjustment between couples. However, this measurement may not be valid in collectivistic cultures such as Asia as it is in individualistic cultures like the U.S. Simply applying tools or theories that were developed or designed in the West may not be sufficient and efficient in measuring non-Western cultures.

Another common point of the existing literature lies in that most employed quantitative research method instead of qualitative methods. Although “American research studies will continue to predominate,” Spanier and Lewis (1980) advocated that “the field must try new directions” and “research which is international in scope, cross-cultural research, and non-American research is likely to continue.”

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To summarize, although research studies on various aspects or dimensions of marital relationship have been numerous and diverse, research studies in the U.S. have been dominating.

Most of the studies either set their targets on white Americans in the U.S., or were conducted in the U.S. which reflects relatively strong individualistic characteristics. For example, as Amato et al. (2007) summarized the marriage change in the U.S., marriage at a later age, choosing not to marry or having children or not have been gradually accepted as a personal choice, in comparison to being a social necessity as commonly perceived and accepted in collectivistic cultures in Asian cultures such as China.

Communication competence in the West also emphasizes importance of verbal communication skills such as verbal expressiveness or listening, which are viewed as practical tools or solutions in managing conflict and increasing marital quality of couples. In comparison, Chinese wives also reported to utilize verbal communication in dealing with conflict with their husbands. There are a few other similar characteristics which can be implied in comparison to the existing literature. First, Chinese wives reported higher marital satisfaction when they felt being supported resonating with Patrick et al.’s (2007) study. The Chinese wives reported that they were happy when their husband tried help with housework, child rearing and show understanding and support to them. In line with Veroff et al.’s (1998) conclusion that gender role orientation is key to expectation, the participants are oriented to equal gender roles. When this expectation is met, they report more marital satisfaction. Similar to the black participants in the Veroff et al.’s study, the Chinese wives are more expressive and open to discuss their conflicts than their Japanese husbands. Chinese wives also report more satisfaction by having their career, one way to find their values, explore their identity and reach self-realizations as well as making friends and having connections with the outside world. Working has allowed them to shape their self-identity.

Self-identity which has been frequently mentioned by the Chinese wives was also reported

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to be critical in marital relationship and marital wellbeing. Chinese seeking egalitarianism and sharing house chores leads to higher marital satisfaction, as Amato et al. (2007) stated.

Although China is commonly viewed as one collectivistic culture in Asian, the results of this study has revealed some similar features in comparison to the results of existing literature on marriage in the West. Under the same category, Japanese cultures is often regarded as sharing more similarities with other Asian cultures, differences have not been given enough attention.

However, both the high divorce rate between Chinese wives and Japanese husbands and the results of this study indicate that there might be some important differences that have been overlooked which demand to be fully examined.