The Effect of Internal Minor Stress on Marital Satisfaction in Indonesian Intercultural Couples

Abstract

Intercultural couples face cultural conflicts in their marriage, resulting in internal minor stress. Stress as a dyadic phenomenon – commonly found in marriage – affects both individuals involved in the relationship. As a result, couples experience low levels of marital satisfaction. Forty-five intercultural couples from Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi Bandung, and Pekanbaru completed this study. The highlight of this study was the use of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model in the data analysis, using the APIM_SEM application. The result from this study implied that internal minor stress affected marital satisfaction at an individual level, however, no significant effects were found in the partner-effect.