Cultural Communities: Challenges and Opportunities in the Creation of “Happily Ever After” Stories of Intercultural Couplehood

Abstract

In this rapidly changing world, where travel and communication technology are helping to progressively decrease the gap between diverse people, intercultural couplehood trends continue to increase. The road to the richness of intercultural relationships may be plagued at times by challenges that can occur at numerous systemic levels. Intercultural couples are left to create stories that revisit and renegotiate their expectations, boundaries, and cultural lenses. This article has two purposes: (a) to describe the ways in which various systems influence intercultural couples and the unique experiences of intercultural couples and (b) to present an integrated approach to couples counseling through illustrations of intercultural stories.

Exploring Identity Negotiations: An Analysis of Intercultural Japanese-U.S. American Families Living in the United States

“…Interracial marriages came to be viewed positively among some as providing individuals with possibilities for enriching relationships that can break cultural and racial boundaries (Molina, Estrada, & Burnett, 2004). Media portrayals and other public discourses have also created Asian Americans as a model minority (Appiah & Liu, 2009;Zhang, 2010).…”

Relational Communication in Intercultural Couples

“…Research themes frequently studied in intercultural romantic relationships have been adaptation issues and decision-making (Chen, 2002;Oksa-Walter, 2004;Romano, 1997;Tseng et al ., 1977;Varro, 1995), FinnishÁRussian marriages (Männistö & Lazareva, 2004), motivation (Chen, 2002;Lampe, 1982), satisfaction (Foeman & Nance, 1999), inter-racial relationships (Gaines & Brennan, 2001), and intercultural counselling and therapy (Molina et al ., 2004).…”

Indovina chi viene a cena? Questioni psico-socio-giuridiche nel ciclo di vita della coppia mista

“…Vi è poi la tendenza all'idealizzazione del partner, funzionale al consolidamento del legame e alla qualità della scelta fatta. Nella fase successiva emergono gli aspetti precedentemente ai margini della rappresentazione nella vita di coppia, mettendone in discussione il funzionamento abituale (Molina, Estrada e Burnett, 2004); la crisi può essere innescata da svariati fattori: differenze di status sociale, aspettative legate al genere, legami con le famiglie d'origine.…”