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15 - Relationship Maintenance across Cultural Groups

from Part IV - The Social Context of Relationship Maintenance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2019

By
Stanley O. Gaines  and
Nelli Ferenczi
Edited by
Brian G. Ogolsky  and
J. Kale Monk
Brian G. Ogolsky
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
J. Kale Monk
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
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Summary

In this chapter, the authors draw upon Abraham Maslow’s self-actualization theory, Eli Finkel’s suffocation model of marriage, and Arthur and Elaine Aron’s self-expansion model in the process of examining relationship maintenance among members of various cultural groups. A review of the literature on nationality as culture (following Goodwin) suggests limited support for the effects of a nation-level East–West dichotomy on mean levels of relationship maintenance behaviors (i.e., where such an effect exists, persons in Western nations sometimes engage in significantly higher levels of relationship maintenance behaviors than do persons in Eastern nations) and the effects of such a dichotomy on covariance between equity norms and relationship maintenance behaviors (i.e., where such an effect exists, within Western nations only, individuals are more likely to engage in relationship maintenance behaviors when they perceive their relationships as equitable rather than unequitable). However, the effects in question are not consistent and do not generalize to ethnic group differences in means or covariance involving relationship maintenance behaviors within Eastern or Western nations. Implications for studies that integrate cultural psychology with relationship science are discussed.

Keywords

self-actualization theorysuffocation modelself-expansion modelequity theoryEast–West dichotomyrelationship maintenance
Type
Chapter
Information
Relationship Maintenance
Theory, Process, and Context
 , pp. 284 - 303
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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