Development of Immigrant Couple Relations in Germany

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates whether relationship satisfaction, conflict frequency, and self-disclosure follow distinct developmental trajectories for immigrant couples when compared with native-born couples and explores the factors that explain developmental diversity for immigrant couples. Background: Despite nearly a quarter of a billion people worldwide living in a country other than their birth country, no longitudinal research has examined immigrant couple intimate relations. Stress-focused theoretical perspectives provide motivation for the current study. Method: Five annual waves of survey data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) study were analyzed. Propensity score matching was used to select a sample of immigrant (n = 614) and native-born (n = 2,097) couples matched on a number of potentially confounding demographic

Cultural adaptation congruence in immigrant spouses is associated with marital quality

“…Disagreements in values and expectations may arise within dyads and compromise people's ability to maintain strong relationships. Despite the importance of close relationships for psychological and physical well-being, particularly during times of stress and transition (Johnson et al, 2019), few studies, surprisingly, examine the extent to which immigrant couples' cultural adaptation is associated with their marital outcomes.…”