Marital Satisfaction and Communication Practices: Comparisons Among Indian and American Couples

Abstract

Most marital research in the last two decades has been conducted with predominately white, middle-class, North American married couples; little is known about marital communication practices of couples who live in different cultures. In an attempt to understand the dynamics of cultural orientations to marriages, two types of couples from Kerala (India) and a sample of couples from Michigan (U.S.A.) were compared on their marital satisfaction and communication practices. The labels "arranged" and "love" are used in India to indicate the ways people begin their marital relationships, and the label "companionate" identifies American romantic marriages. The Primary Communication Inventory was used to measure verbal and nonverbal communication practices, while the Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to measure marital satisfaction. Results from the analyses revealed that arranged marrieds were significantly higher in marital satisfaction than were the love marrieds or companionate marrieds. No significant difference existed between love marrieds and companionate marrieds on marital satisfaction scores. Analyses of the data also indicated that significantly less verbal and nonverbal communication occurred in the arranged marriages than in the love marriages. The love couples, however, reported using significantly less verbal communication than companionate couples. Despite the cultural differences, the love marrieds in Kerala and companionate marrieds in Michigan were more similar in their verbat and nonverbal communication and marital satisfaction scores than were those of the arranged and love married in Kerala. In love and companionate marriages, effective communication appears to be more influential in producing high marital satisfaction, wheras in arranged marriages, cultural tradition and commitment to a relationship appear to be very influential factors in producing high marital satisfaction.

Importance of Marital Characteristics and Marital Satisfaction: A Comparison of Asian Indians in Arranged Marriages and Americans in Marriages of Choice

“…Thus, marital bonds between married couples in India are based on a sense of filial commitment and an adherence to cultural tradition, rather than on spousal intimacy (Yelsma & Athappilly, 1988).…”

Marriage Satisfaction and Wellness in India and the United States: A Preliminary Comparison of Arranged Marriages and Marriages of Choice

“…Implications for further research are considered. Yelsma and Athappilly (1988) studied marriage satisfaction and communication practices of 28 Indian couples in arranged marriages, 25 Indian couples in "love" marriages (marriages of choice), and 31 American couples in companionate marriages. They found that persons in arranged marriages had higher marital satisfaction scores, as measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), than either the love-married persons in India or the companionatemarried persons in the United States.…”

Individualistic and Collectivistic Perspectives on Gender and the Cultural Context of Love and Intimacy

“…Derlega (1984) suggested that to develop intimacy, it was important for individuals to accept each other's "true self," which involved in part a willingness to reveal negative as well as positive information about oneself. From this perspective, the findings of a study comparing marital satisfaction and communication in three types of marriages, Indian arranged marriage, Indian "love marriage," and American "companionate" marriage, are of interest (Yelsma & Athappilly, 1988). The data for the American couples were from a previous study and were used for comparison purposes with the Indian sample.…”

“…In the North American sample, many aspects of reported marital communication were related to marital satisfaction, while among the Indian couples in arranged marriages, very few reported behaviors were correlated with marital satisfaction. Yelsma and Athappilly (1988) interpreted their findings as suggesting that while "a desire for emotional excitement" contributed to satisfaction in companionate marriages, other variables such as "a sense of life-long commitment and cultural tradition" were more likely to be related to satisfaction in arranged marriages. Their observation raises an important issue-namely, the criteria for defining a "successful marriage" may well differ for persons from individualistic and collectivistic societies.…”