PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE SPOUSES AND INTERCULTURAL ADJUSTMENT

PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE SPOUSES AND INTERCULTURAL ADJUSTMENT

Literature Review.

Looking at the modern world, one would get the notion of integration and interactions of people from different cultural backgrounds. People are highly mobile to areas where they don’t know the cultural experiences where they have to adjust to the multicultural aspects of these areas, which may be different from their original cultural practices (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007).  Many elements determine the adjustment of the people in the multicultural aspects in other countries, and the personalities of the people have been found through studies to be influential in the changes. The modern world has led to the integration and interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds. Studies have shown that the personality characteristics of female spouses have an influence on the adjustment in multicultural environments in many ways (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). The female spouses have different cultural views and aspects which influence the family adaptation to a new environment or the way their spouses may adjust to a new environment (Tara, 2008).  Trade and modern businesses have led to interactions and integrations of people from a different cultural background where the host nations’ cultures influence the behaviors and notions of the people from other cultures (Parker, & McEvoy, 1993). Working environments or situations cause people to migrate from their original cultures and go to new cultural backgrounds where they are required to adjust to the unique cultures to survive well and deal with the cultures (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). Some working environments require people to migrate with their spouses who influence the way people adjust to the new cultural backgrounds in many ways.

Expatriate families’ adjustment to other cultures’ literature is a complex and complicated issue in the modern world and covers a wide range of writings (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Various studies ion the adjustment aspects of couples or people in a different environment have been conducted and given yield to multiple schools of thought (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). What is contemporary in the study is, however, how the female spouse’s personalities affect the intercultural adjustments (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Cross-cultural changes can be explained in various terms and forms as they are comprehensive, ranging from how individuals take the cultures of the new environments and how they perceive the unique cultural aspects. The personalities of the people exposed in the new environment affect the way the people may settle or adjust to the new situation in many ways.

Personality is one of the vital aspects of the adaptability and adjustment of people in multi-cultural environments (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). As the world is becoming more connected through trade and interactions of people from different cultural backgrounds, people are struggling to adapt to the new cultural settings (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Personality is, therefore, determined by the way people may view and take the different cultural aspects as they interact with others from different cultural backgrounds. The nature of different people affects how people behave in different cultural settings or how they perceive the cultures of others in different cultural environments (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Various studies on the personality aspects of people conducted to determine how the personalities affect the adjustment and adaptation of people to different cultures have proven that the characters affect the changes in cross-cultural lifestyles. According to Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, (2007), the stability of relationships in expatriate couples is dependent on the personalities of the spouses and especially the female spouses (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). Personality traits have effects on the openmindedness of the couples, emotional stability of the pair, family cohesion, intimacy, and flexibility of the couples in multicultural aspects.

Studying the personality aspects of female aspects and intercultural adjustment, especially in Vienna, Austria is guided by the human rights provisions and laws governing marriage in Austria. The cultural issues of the country are essential to the survival of marriage and relationships of the spouses. Still, the aspects of the personality of the female spouses play a significant role in the multicultural setting (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). Though various studies have shown that different aspects affect the adaptation or the adjustment of the expatriates in foreign nation’s cultures, the personality aspects of the female spouses have dominated the issue.  According to Parker and McEvoy, 1993, personality characteristics affect the adjustment and the adaptability of the people in different cultural backgrounds. Parker and McEvoy further explain that the relationship aspects of women in a relationship are more centered than the relations of men. Thus the women or the female spouses may have a higher effect on the link in a multicultural environment than a man. Women are more sociable and may put a person in a more sociable situation even if in foreign cultures, and thus their personality affects the adjustment of the people in the foreign cultures (Parker, & McEvoy, 1993). Female spouses have different traits and personalities, which make them essential in adapting to the new cultures as they’re parts and parcel of the relationships (Tara, 2008). Women have been found to be sociable, accessible, lovable, and easy-going in that they can bond with various cultures quickly. The personalities of female spouses thus determine the multicultural adjustments.

Personality and the traits of women in intercultural relationships have been studied for a long time. According to Doherty (2013), the adjustment literature has grown over time due to the importance of the issues and the continuous interactions of people in different cultures. Studies have shown that people move from one region to another and struggle to adjust to the cultural aspects of the new environments (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). The adjustment to the new cultural environments is affected by many aspects, and the personality of the spouses is one of the determiners of the way people adjust to the new cultures.  Different scholars in personality issues have studied the personality aspects of female spouses and how they affect the adjustment of couples in different cultures. Intercultural relationships have increased over time and thus have increased the need to study how the personalities of female spouses may affect the adjustment to the new cultural environments (Parker, & McEvoy, 1993). The personalities of the female spouses may affect the way the families of the people in the relationships adjust to new environments (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Different aspects of the families and relationships of people who migrate or move into new cultural contexts are affected by the personalities and traits of the partners in the relationship.

The family is the fundamental organ or unit of any person or any culture. People have different values for their families, and they respect their cultures in many ways (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Female spouses are more focused on family wellbeing than their male counterparts and, therefore, would be more concerned in the cultural aspects of the family (Doherty, 2013). If a family was to migrate or move to a new environment, the female spouses may either be in support of the migration or move or not support the move (Connor, Smith, & Flachsbart, 2007). Expatriates may either fail or succeed depending on the traits of the partners in an expatriate relationship.

In the modern world, various people and cultures interact with each other due to trade and other factors. People are bound to meet or interact with others in different cultural backgrounds, either when working or through marriage (Parker, & McEvoy, 1993). The personalities of the people affect how they may adjust to new cultural environments. Women or female spouses have different traits from men’s spouses, and these traits or personalities may affect how the couples interact with the new cultures or the way they may adjust to the cross-cultural environments (Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Having different cultural or racial backgrounds, people have different ways in which they adjust to cross-cultural areas, and the personalities of the people may affect the way they adjust to different cultures. The world today is shaped by the integration of people from different cultural backgrounds as the United Nations organization has enabled the cohesion of people. People are free to work, marry, and trade with others from different cultures, and this has enhanced the interactions and cross-cultural adjustments of people. Women, as parts of relationships and families, affect the way people adjust to new cultures through their personalities and characteristics.

Many theories and explanations have developed and proposed to explain the personality characteristics of female spouses and intercultural adjustments. Feminine personality traits affect the levels and ways in which people adjust to new cultural environments in Austria or any other nation. The personalities of the female spouses vary from one cultural context to another and are also affected by the expatriate status in the host nation or culture in different ways (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007).  When people marry or get into a relationship, they are bound to influence the thinking and the views of others about other cultures. They may change the adjustments of their partners in multicultural environments. Adjustments in multicultural environments may come in various ways as explained by (Naji 2017), these include religious changes where people have to adapt in the religion of the host nation and the other psychological aspects of cultures which may affect the individuals in a new cultural environment (Naji, 2017) The instrumental, emotional and informational personalities of the female spouses are vital in determining the adjustments of a family in a new environment (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). They are very influential in the adaptation to a new culture (Ali, van, & Sanders, 2003).  Female spouses have different personalities and characteristics which affect the way the families adjust to intercultural changes (Ali, trailer, & Sanders, 2003). According to Paula and Mila, the female expatriates develop relationships and use the connections to determine the adjustments to new cultures (Paula, & Mila, 2002). These connections base on various aspects such as cohesion to the family, intimacy, adulthood attachment theories, open-mindedness, and the style of communication in a relationship (Connor, Smith, & Flachsbart, 2007). This literature review will base on these topics and how they determine the adjustment of various people to different cultural environments, primarily in the context of the female spouses (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). The literature review will base on the available information and multiple studies carried out on the personalities of the female partners in relationships and how they influence the adaptation and adjustment of either the spouses or their families in cross-cultural environments at different times and circumstances.

Attachment theories.

Attachment theory was initially established by John Bowlby. Although John Bowlby was primarily interested in comprehending the foundation of the relationship of infant-caregiver, he held attachment described human behaviors from the time of birth to death. Hence researchers strived at unearthing how the attachment theories can apply to adults during the mid-1980s. Shaver and Hazan (1987) were amongst the first scholars to investigate how the attachment theories can be used to explain romantic relationships amongst the adults. Hazan (1987) denoted that emotional bond found in the adult romantic spouses is partially the purpose of the motivational system that offers emotional bonds amid caregivers and infants. Hazan (1987) postulated that both the linkage between caregivers and infants and associations between grownup romantic spouses has standard features. Both of the relationships engage in a bodily and intimate relationship; they both feel uncertain when unable to reach the other; he also noted that both of them participate in the “baby talk.”

People have emotional attachments from the day they are born, and there exist different kinds of attachments to every level of life. For example, the adults have different kinds of attachment towards each other, while the children have various forms of attachments towards their parents (Carr, 2019). When a parent gives birth to a child, there is an emotional attachment to the child, which is long-lasting and effective in the growth of the child. Parents are attached differently to their children, and studies have shown that most of her may be more attached to the child than the father may be attached. Spouses are also attached when in a relationship, and different factors may determine the attachment. People are attached differently to different cultures, and this may cause adaptability problems to the people when they are exposed to different cultural backgrounds. Spouses are attached differently to each other, and the attachments determine the relationship and the closeness to each other in the relationship. Female spouses want to be in relationships that are secure, intimate and have open-minded to each other because they won’t care. The attachment of adults in relationships is also determined by the cultural aspects of the relationship or the cultural background. As female spouses have different traits, the traits determine how the people may adapt or adjust to new cultural environments.

Different traits and personalities of the female spouses may affect the way people adjust to new environments (Connor, Smith, &, Flachsbart, 2007). According to Connor, Smith, & Flachsbart, 2007, the personalities of the spouses and their levels of attachment are related in that they determine how people view the host cultures and the way they believe or commit to adhere to the customs. Adults know about the different religions they are exposed to and thus can have a better judgment of the different cultures. Various studies have shown that women in relationships exhibit different types of attachments and traits which may affect the relationship in different cultures. Females in relationships may have a fantasy or anxious traits which may make them feel different in diverse cultural background or environments and thus affect the adaptability or the adjustment to the new environments (Radwan, 2012). The bond of the female spouse or the female counterpart in a relationship may be affected by the attachment of the spouse to the relationship or the culture. According to Van et al, the different attachment theories and aspects apply to different people at different times and in different cultural environments. The people in different cultural environments have different perceptions of the cultures and the beliefs of others and thus may adopt as per their perspectives of the culture.

Attachment theories explain how an individual relates to different cultural environments in terms of psychological, evolutionary, and ethological aspects. Attachment theories explain how a person can interact and adapt to changes in the cultural backgrounds mainly basing on the gender and the age of an individual. The style of attachment determines how well people can relate and live with their partners in different cultural environments. Various partners exhibit different forms of accessories to new cultural backgrounds at different times, and this is vital in determining the levels of adjustments to different cultural settings. The personalities of women are different from those of men in relationships. Thus they decide the way the people in a relationship adapt to a new or cross-cultural environment (Yoon & Park, 2018).  The model of attachment style or theory is an influencer of the way people react to their needs and wants in different contexts. According to Lisa, the spouses or people in a relationship chose the people they can have better and understandable relationships with to adapt to various cultural environments or the people who can quickly adapt to the cross-cultural environments which suit them both (Lisa, 2013). Female spouses have more choices to choose from as they are more influential to their male counterparts in a relationship.

Being secure in a relationship and the protection of one’s interests and likes is a vital aspect of the attachment theories adapted by the female spouses (Naji, 2017). Women always need a secure environment where they can adapt and adjust quickly, and this is one of their characteristics in a relationship. When in a different culture, the female spouses tend to look at their ways and methods of adaptation and how best they can relate to the cultures in foreign lands. Research has shown that most people, especially women, have a tendency to adapt quickly to the customs and cross-cultural environments, which makes them feel secure. This situation mostly referred to as a secure attachment where female spouses need the assurance of their security band care in a cross-cultural environment. When a male spouse posted in a place with different cultures from their cultural aspects at work, the woman’s personalities may affect the way the male counterpart may adjust to the new cultural environment through the attachment cultural theories.

Paula and Mila developed a theory and a model that describes how the female expatriates or spouses develop and utilize relationships in intercultural adjustments and how the cross-cultural changes are affected by female spouses (Paula, & Mila, 2002). These models also look at the various components affecting the cross-cultural adjustments relating to female spouses and how women in relationships can form relationships and help adapt to the links. Relationships are made on several aspects and models basing on the religion, cultures, race, ethnicities, and nationalities, and these factors bring about differences in the relationships (Sullivan, & Cottone, 2006). According to Sullivan and Cottone, (2006), “Intercultural relationships and expatriates have to contend with these backgrounds and aspects of relationships, and thus the personalities of the partners in the relationships affect the adjustments of the people in the relationships in multicultural areas.” The research available on the personalities of the spouses in multicultural aspects is wide and explains the different dimensions of figures of the spouses or partners. Partners are attached to their counterparts in many ways and thus the ample literature on the attachment.  According to Sullivan, &, Cottone, (2006), “Female spouses may have different attachment levels and adjustment ways to the different cultures.”

Personal characteristics and the way people adjust to new environments, especially in other cultural settings, are vital aspects of how relationships, especially in marriage fare. Personality traits or characteristics involve features in social behaviors, social, cultural adjustments, and how different people adapt to the cultures of others. One’s personality is decisive in the way they adapt to a culture they are not familiar with or how they take their relationships. Various kinds of people are bound to either adjust or fail to adapt to new cultural settings. The personality of multiple people varies, and thus their adjustment levels also vary. Female spouses have different kinds of characters and therefore have different ways and levels of adjusting to different cultures. Many disparities and personalities exist in married couples, and these determine the way satisfaction in marriages exists in different cultural settings. The characters of different spouses in marriage discover the adjustments in multicultural environments, and these personalities are vital in determining the cross-cultural adaptations of the spouses and their changes into the relationships.

Expatriates have different levels of adjustment to new cultures and environments, which are also determined by their spouses, especially if the spouses are female. There are various issues like family issues and adjustment issues which affect adaptations to new cultures. Still, the personality of spouses has proven to be a significant issue in adjustment and adaptation in a multicultural environment. According to Davies, Kraeh, & Froese, most research bases on the ways different partners adjust to intercultural situations and not their personalities (Davies, Kraeh, & Froese, 2015). It is, however, essential for the researchers to look at the characteristics and personalities of the spouses in the adjustment processes effectively to determine the composition and all the aspects of adjustment in the new cultural settings. Various theories and hypotheses on how the spouses’ change in the new environments exhibited in the existence of the intercultural environment and the adaptations theories of adults to the cross-cultural settings.  One such method is that the partners’ characteristics and personalities determine the adjustments in expatriate countries as they have the effect of influencing the take of each other on the cultural aspects of another nation.

The argument above explains how the different spouses influence the other spouse in their thinking and view of different cultures due to their ways of attachment to the new environments of cultures. Female spouses may change the thought of their male counterparts about a different culture in many ways (Davies, Kraeh, & Froese, 2015). These ways depend on the original view of the spouse in the cultures of the foreign nation and may influence the thinking of the male spouse, as explained in the next chapters. There are various apparent implications of these influences to the settlement and adjustment of the multiple people in diverse cultural settings different from their own.

Female spouses may feel that the attachments of their spouses in the new environments may be insecure or be anxious about the bond between themselves and the male spouses. The anxious attachment theory may better explain the adjustment aspects in this form of attachment. The anxious attachment mostly developed out of desperation in a relationship where the female spouses have the traits of hunger and emotions. The personalities of these female spouses usually driven by the need to be close to the male partner and how they feel about the new cultural setting. The female spouses who feel insecure and desperate in a relationship have personal traits and characteristics that show their fears and worries of being away from their male counterparts and thus may cling to the male spouses or not let them go far from them (Brunello, &, Bruno, 2016). These female spouses may, therefore, affect the adaptability of the male counterparts in different cultural backgrounds as they may affect the adjustments of the spouses in the diverse cultural backgrounds. The spouses may also interpret the actions of their partners in negative ways and thus hinder their change to their new cultural environments in many ways; for example, they may deem the male spouses as interested in fulfilling their desires without caring for their feelings or emotions.

Everybody, even adults, wants to love and affection to be attached to their spouses, especially in modern society, where there are very diverse challenges and aspects in relationships. Most of the agencies and arms of the international community organizations are trying to enable the closeness of spouses and their attachment to each other to curb the various social challenges in relationships. In every successful relationship, spouses need to have devotion to each other for them to be fully intimate or close to each other. In an attachment theory that explains how the couples deal with different cultural environments that may be different from their own distinct cultures, the spouses may consider the situations of their relationship before adjusting (Hal, 2018). People have various forms of changing and attachment styles and thus have different encounters in their relationships. At times these people don’t have a clear overview of what they want in the link and therefore, may affect the way they may adjust in new environments. The friends and relatives of the spouses are found to be influential in the way people live and have affection for different cultures as they affect the personalities of the spouses (Hal, 2018). Female spouses usually believed to have a character that is inclined to their friends or close relatives in that the way their friends and relatives take on issues determines the way the spouses adjust or influence the adjustment of their counterparts to the new cultures.

Intimacy.

Personal traits and personalities determine the way people in an intimate relationship behave in a social setting (Timothy & Paula, 2016). Getting along with each other in contact is very vital in the way people express themselves in a multicultural aspect, such as a new environment with a different cultural setting. Baker and Halford (2019) explain that there are various standards of intimacy in a relationship, and the rules vary by the personalities of the sex partners in a relation (Baker, &, Halford, 2019). The female partners in a relationship are significant determiners of the bond and intimacy in a relationship. So their personalities are vital in adjustments in cross-cultural environments if such situations arise.

Relationships mainly base on intimacy and the closeness of the spouses to one another. Different tasks, career businesses, and assignments at times may affect the levels of privacy in relationships, especially when people have to adjust to different cultural backgrounds. Various models and theories of intimacy and closeness to each other in a relationship have been developed and found to have different effects on the adjustment abilities of people in cross-cultural environments. The personalities of the female spouses as significant players in a relationship cannot be downplayed as they affect the adjustments and adaptation to new cultures. Intimacy in relationships is viewed in either mutual affection or privacy in the relationship itself. Mutual intimacy entails the closeness of the individuals to the different cultures, while intimacy in the relationship involves the relationship between the married couples. The personalities of the female spouses in a relationship, therefore, affect the adjustment of expatriates to the different cultures they may be exposed to or may be taken.

Some of the facets of intimacy that are highlighted by most of the researchers include emotion, intention, sexuality, involvement, and gender (Johnson, 2009). Johnson and Daneneau (2008) regard to the intimacy as “relational event in which trusting self-disclosure is responded to with communicated empathy” (p.18). Schaefer, on the other hand, regard intimacy as the practice that happens over time, that is never wholly actualized or concluded. It involves the understanding, paying attention, and acceptance of the genuine self of another person (Walker, 2011). Schaefer (2011) denoted that there exists a direct relationship amid marital satisfaction and marital intimacy; he went on and added that a rise in marital intimacy affects marital satisfaction positively. Despite that female and male spouses tend to have parallel views regarding self-disclosure and privacy in marital relationships, researchers claimed that there is a difference in how female spouses and male spouses tend to view marital satisfaction and intimacy in the relationship (Kim, 2008). Women are more capable of discussing intimate problems with urge and warmth with their fellow female spouses compared to men (Stewart, 2011). Intimacy is also believed to satisfy varying functions for female spouses and male spouses. Men tend to carry the outcome of the intimate relationship into other sectors of functioning; however, intimacy relationship for female results to greater happiness and satisfaction for women in a relationship. However, according to the study conducted by Olson (2009), there is no difference amid the rate of male spouses and female spouses in sectors of intellectual, emotional, and recreational intimacy.

Research by Tara Marshall on the cultural differences in intimacy and the gender roles in cross-cultural relationships shows that lower intimacy may lead to lower relationship satisfaction. The female spouses are the most critical aspects of ensuring higher relationships and privacy as they are part and parcel of the link (Pain, 2014). Different cultures present different causes of actions on the closeness of people and genders in a relationship, and the study showed that female spouses might be affected by the equality aspects in the different cultures. In the USA, for example, the level the cultural differences may have in the female spouses in adaptation may be less because of the equality aspects of gender (Tara, 2008). However, the gender and the personality of the female spouses may have effects as they may take the issues in gender and equality differently.

Tara explains further that the interpersonal interactions and the closeness of the people in a relationship lead to the adjustment of their traits to the cultures they experience in their endeavors. If people are intimate, they may feel to be together all the time and thus may not do anything that would hinder their relationship (Tara, 2008). Intimacy is, therefore, a vital aspect and determines the personalities of the spouses in a relationship and how they adjust to cross-cultural environments. Women may behave wild in the situations they may deem to be provocative or hindering their intimacy to their male spouses, and this is a form of personality that may hinder adjustment to a new cultural environment (Eshel et al., 2015).  These women may not want anything to become a barrier or to come between their relationships with their men and thus would prevent the occurrences at all costs. These personalities may thus hinder the way the individuals may adjust to new cultural environments.

Studies have shown the different reasons people may find themselves in an expatriate situation and have to contend with the multicultural environment. Work, marriage, or immigration for any purpose may lead to a person being in a position or environment with different cultural aspects from their own cultures. The way people accept the new environment and how they perceive the new environment is vital in determining their ability to cope and adjust to the new environment and adapt to the cultures of the new environment. The traits of the female counterparts in the relationship affect the adjustment to the unique cultural settings in many ways, as explained by Caligiuri, 1982, by the way, they take the aspects as vital. Caligiuri explains that the personalities of the people should not be based on the workers but the owners of the business or the celebrities of the spouses. The connectivity and intimacy of the spouses affect how they view and value the different cultures they are exposed to overtime. Female spouses tend to be more intimate than the male counterparts, and so they determine the adjustments of the relationship to the multicultural setting.  The study suggests that the cross-cultural aspects of every partner are based on the intimacy of the person to the relationship.

Intimacy is a vital aspect in every relationship as its basis on the closeness of the partners to each other. The roles of women in expatriate relationships have increased over time and cannot be disputed. Studies have been conducted to show the intimacy aspects of the female spouse in various kinds of relationships. They have shown that female spouses are more influential in their relationships.  Being more influential in relationships means that the female spouses can control some aspects of the relationship, and so their personalities are vital in the multicultural setting (P. Greeff, Hildegarde L. Malherbe, 2016). As female spouses are more intimate in the relationships and that they tend to care more to their part6iners and families, they thus influence the adjustment to a new cultural environment in several ways. Having prior experience in the relationships, the personalities of the female spouses may be adequate to judge and come up with reasonable answers and solutions to the various challenges the couple may face in a foreign environment. The personalities of women, which include love and affection to their partners or the family, may lead them to make different decisions when n different cultural settings.

A study has shown that the intimacy aspect of a relationship is vital in ensuring the emotional support of partners in a relationship. Intimate partners offer support to each other even in difficult times. Female spouses are more supportive of their counterparts and may assist them in adjusting to new cultural settings if the need arises. According to Prager, Shirvani, Garcia, &, Coles, (2013), intimacy enhances satisfaction in relationships. Improving satisfaction can be looked at as how couples feel comfortable and easy going to their counterparts and can adjust and concentrate on their current environment without worry (Prager, Shirvani, Garcia, & Coles, 2013). Female spouses offer support to their male counterparts and also give then advice and the love they require for motivation and thus enable them to to9 concentrate on other issues and adapt to new cultures. If women are married to cultures different from the original cultures, they tend to exhibit their inborn characters but have different personalities, which enable them to adjust 6to the new cultures. Prager, Shirvani, Garcia, & Coles, used the models of study to establish and learn about the intimacy aspects and how they affect a relationship. The study found that the relationships which lack intimacy are less progressive and how they affect the psychology of the partners (Prager, Shirvani, Garcia, & Coles, 2013). The intimacy aspect affects the connection of the spouses and thus helps them adjust to new environments with ease. According to Prager, Shirvani, Garcia, & Coles, the relations and the connections of the couples is also a determinant to the wellbeing of the individual in a relationship. Thus the personality of the persons in the relationship determines the adjustment of the person in a new culture.

Cohesion Family.

Family cohesion has been explained by various scholars and studies as the way people in a family bond and relate with each other. According to Olson (2013), family cohesion refers to the emotive bonding that exists on each of the family members towards the other family members. Family cohesion is also an essential aspect of trading and earning income through the use of coherence. According to Pilgrim, Abbey, and Kershaw, Mothers form an integral part of the ways their children bond with a new environment. Thus the female spouses are essential in the adjustment to new environments. Children require adjusting to the new school and have to make new friends in the new cultural environment, and they may require the help of the family in acknowledging the new environment (Pilgrim, Abbey, & Kershaw, 2004). The most influential parent in such cases is the female parent or the female spouse as she is closer to the children than her male counterpart. The personalities of the women spouses may affect the cohesion of the families in different cultural environments in many ways, and this is a factor in the adaptation of the people in different communities different from their original community. Expatriates may find themselves in environments that may not favor their existence, but their personalities may be influential in the way they adjust to the new environments.

Studies show that family cohesion affects the formation and the nature of the family in different cultural aspects. Fernando, Rivera, Peter, Guarnaccia, & Margarita, Alegria, argues that the emotional distress in families is overcome by the cohesion and the togetherness of the family. The cohesiveness of the family is essential in acknowledging the cultures of different people as the cohesion may affect the way the family relates to the customs. Female spouses, in this case, are vital in ensuring the coherence of the family through their various personalities. Most families are exposed to challenges in the cultural aspects, especially if they have to move or live in a different cultural background. Most of the families tend to be guided by their cultures to keep tightly together and have the cohesion. However, the influences of cultures may affect the family cohesion and lead to breakdowns or separations. The personalities of the female spouses may, however, be useful in curbing or preventing the conflicts (Fernando, Rivera, Peter, Guarnaccia, &, Margarita, Alegria, 2008). Female spouses have the personalities of conflict resolution and can enhance cohesion in the family even when the family is in a diverse culture.

Family cohesion has been seen to be affected by various outside or external factors. These factors may vary from one family to another or from one personality to another. The characters of the female spouses as players in the relationships may affect the cohesion of the family in different ways. A female spouse’s traits may be aimed at uniting the family together and ensuring coherence in the family even when the family is in a different cultural environment. According to Burr (2013), concepts of marital satisfaction and marital adjustment are often defined inappropriately and lead to severe issues to the family researchers concerning formal definitions and operational definitions.

Various studies and research have been conducted to determine the effects of living abroad or being in a multicu8ltural relationship and the cohesion of the family in such cases. The personalities of the female spouses in these cases determine the way the families cope with the new environments and how they adapt to the unique cultural settings in foreign countries. In the family cohesion aspects of adjustments and adaptations to the new cultures with an issue of the personalities of the female spouses, there are a lot of literature available and arguments or hypothesis in the topic. For example, individual Family member’s adjustments are vital in the alignment of the whole family in a cross-cultural environment. Female spouses being members of a family have thus their influence in the corrections and adaptation of the family in the foreign cultures. The study in family cohesion focuses on the process of adaptation of every family member in a diverse culture. Still, in this case, we will be looking at the perspective of the female spouse. Female spouses have different personalities in the way they value the cohesion of the family, and they help stick the family together. Most women have the characters where they want their families to stitch together, and various studies have shown that female spouses are more oriented to the cohesio0n of the family than men. This means that the women are more likely to influence the cohesion of the family even at different cultural backgrounds more t5han the men could do. The women may also affect the adjustment to t5he multicultural environments as they would want and like their families to be closer to each other and thus would encourage cohesion.

Cultural Open-mindedness

According to Sinkula et al. (2012), Open-Mindedness denotes the willingness to swiftly search for proof against a person’s favored goals, beliefs, plans, and to measure the evidence fairly when available. While similar approaches to issues and the solutions might have yielded fruitful results in the prior era, they might not apply in the future. Open-mindedness inspires a willingness to criticize the new practice and thinking, receptiveness to evolving possibilities, consideration of varying perspectives, and sharing of the ideas. Hence the establishment of open-mindedness culture can lead to inquisitive of long-held beliefs and practices (Sinkula et al., 2015).  According to Day (2012), the establishment of the open-minded culture can inspire allotment of information amongst decision-makers. The principal aim of open-mindedness culture to attempt to re-orientate norms, behaviors, and organizational values by altering cognitive structures, dominant logic, and mental models (Day, 2015).

The existence of cultural open-mindedness culture in marriage is a vital key to the success of any wedding. Maintenance of the unions demands tremendous devotion from the female and male spouses living together. One of the critical elements of the marriages, despite the compromise, patience, and love, is an aptitude to develop an open-minded culture. Female spouses like it when there is a culture of open-mindedness in their marriages. There needs to be a culture of open-mindedness in the union to enhance its better performance, for instance, listening to each other’s opinions, views, excellent communication amongst the partners, and responding to each other’s requests in a positive manner. According to Hamed (2012), open-mindedness can be viewed as the inclination regarding the tolerance cultural difference between two partners in the marriage. Also, it involves responding positively to the spouse’s oppositional views. Spouses need to take each new day as a learning day in their marriage life. Marriages mean that spouses need to have an excellent understanding of each other’s opinions, dislikes, and the likes, these are considered as mere differences that spouses can be able to withstand in the marriages (RIGGS, 2010). Female spouses should be able to establish a culture of open-mindedness in their marriages to enhance sincerity in all their endeavors. The spouse’s hearts and the minds should move in a parallel direction to strengthen the establishment of consensus amongst two partners.

Roisman and Holland claimed that a culture of openness in the marriage could have a positive impact on the quality of a relationship (Holland and Roisman 2008). However, there exist contradictions on the effect of the openness of the open-mindedness culture on the marriages since some researchers argue that there exists a negative relationship between the transparency and the quality of the wedding.  Romantic spouses need to have that feeling that they can communicate openly regarding sensitive issues with their partners, they tend to feel dissatisfied whenever they are unable to have open communication with each other (Golish, 2002). Hence these indicate that cultural open-mindedness is a vital factor that can enhance the survival of every marriage. Female spouses tend to be affected adversely by the issue of lack of open communication between her and her male spouse. According to Steuber (2009), female spouses tend to be most affected by a lack of cultural open-mindedness in the relationship compared to their male counterparts. Afifi discovered that whenever female and male spouses are dissatisfied romantically in the relationship, they develop a tendency to elude conflict inducing topics between themselves, in such situation, female spouses are found to be the most affected group by the avoidance. Understanding of how avoidance tends to have a massive impact for females compared to males in a relationship could act as a good foundation for establishing more fulfilling relationships and happier marriages (Yamamura, 2010). A case study in the United Study indicated that female spouse’s relational satisfaction is the primary reason for women’s initiating divorce (Snachez 2003). Hence it is crucial to assess some of the underlying explanations why avoidance backs women discontent even before the marriage starts.

One of the primary reasons why women consider avoidance to be more dissatisfying in the relationship compared to male spouses is because of varying ideals for openness in intimate relationships. Some of the researchers argue that link amid dissatisfaction and avoidance is non-recursive and that women tend to be more dissatisfied compared to men, particularly when the avoidance happens in conflict-inducing circumstances (Afifi, 2009).  Female spouses are partied to be affiliation oriented; hence they tend to be better at identifying and maintaining possible problems that might occur in their relationships as compared to their male counterparts (Sollie, 2010). Since openness, if frequently likened with the robust relationships in most of the Western cultures, people tend to associate their own, particularly their spouses, and they strive to avoid possible relational problems (Bochner, 2011). The more spouses notice their partner’s avoidance or their avoidance, and they are likely to deliberate the reason causing avoidance and how they can be able to eliminate the avoidance. Female spouse’s associations are believed to be more robust compared to that of the men mostly because their openness standards are often likely to remain unmet equated to men. The unfulfilled prospects should lead to rumination about reason causing a low level of the openness expected from their partners; hence, this act as an excellent predictor of the relational dissatisfaction.

Some of the theoretical frameworks (for instance, Montgometry and Baxter, 1996), as well as communication discretion management theory (Petronio, 2002), oppose that individuals frequently tussle with the controversial nature of the closeness and openness in their associations. For instance, according to Baxter, individuals’ spouses that give vast information during the beginning period of their relationships can cause a retardation growth of their relationships, which can lead to the fall of their relationships. Hence this indicates that; the partners must reveal their information to their spouses to enhance the growth and maintenance of their relationships. However, from the interpersonal dialectics perspective, there is a significant need for the spouses to have a certain percentage of closedness and openness in the relationships, however, regardless of the inherent nature of the theories discussed above. Experiential data indicates that spouses become dissatisfied with intimate relationships, whenever they sense that they can never chat with their partners about anything, they also tend to feel disappointed when they sense that their partners are circumventing them (Golish, 2002). Research indicates that people that can communicate their thoughts, views, and opinions with their partners are often likely to have good mental and physical health; they also tend to have improved mental health. Whenever the female and male spouses are content with their affiliations, they tend to communicate even private information more freely with their spouses.

Most of the researchers argue that the relation between dissatisfaction and avoidance needs to differ for women and men. However, they do not answer why the reasons underlying such difference. The gender difference can be viewed as the chief cause of the discrepancy amid the ideals for sincerity in the US and discernment of spouse avoidance tendencies. Relationship standards refer to the beliefs that are held by the individuals regarding the way that their relationship should exist (Tempier et al., 2006). Relationships standards are considered necessary since spouses whose relationship standards are accomplished are reported to have a higher-quality relationship (Baucom, 2011).  Open communication is one of the vital standards that is conveyed by both male and female spouses. Sentimental accessibility that contains affection demonstration, impact, and openness is a chief forecaster of the quality of a relationship (Daly, 2008). According to Weigel, communicating each day and sharing of the problems is a vital relationship standard (Weigel, 2008). Some of the other affiliations standards that are considered necessary include the following; affectively oriented abilities that include excellent management of the conflicts, offering comfort and ego support. Most of the female spouses and male spouses report the same relationship standards. For instance, a more significant portion of both the female and male spouses claims that affection is a vital tool necessary for enhancing the wellbeing of their relationship compared to sexuality. (Fehr, 2002). Generally, both the male and female spouses seemed to have the same perception regarding the forms of the beliefs, behaviors, and the values necessary for the wellbeing of their relationship.

However, despite that, men and women contain similar beliefs regarding relationship standards. Female and male spouses tend to exhibit minor differences regarding the extent they feel that their affiliation standards have been accomplished. Female spouses are likely to whine that their affiliation standards are not met compared to complaints brought forwards by men regarding the same issue. This might seem true, especially in the field of open communications, men are generally believed to have a problem with open communication with their spouses. Despite that both the female and male spouses are desperately in need of open communication for their relationships, female spouses tend to demand more open communication (compared to male spouses) than the one they are getting in their affiliation (Daly, 2013).  Hence, according to Baxter (2010), most of the female spouses tend to terminate their relationships due to a lack of open communication from their partners. Also, women are often likely to regard relational violations as more harmful to their affiliations compared to men. Hence most of the female spouses question the stability of the relationships after a desecration; on the other hand, do not regard the relational violations as a huge problem that can affect their relationships (Hampel, 2008). Perhaps, there is a significant reason why female spouses are often less agreeable and more quarrelsome in the relationships compared to male spouses.

The other issue that determines cultural open-mindedness is the issue of conflict avoidance, dissatisfaction, and gender. Conflict avoidance happens when one of the spouses desist from communicating about a particular topic since it can lead to an argument. According to Kaiser (2011), conflict avoidance results in negative results; for instance, tenderness, dissatisfaction, as well as less cohesion. Conflict avoidance could also lead to a low level of intimacy. The issue of conflict avoidance can also lead to a rise in relational distress; married couples who avoid conflict tend to exhibit more dissatisfactions throughout their relationships as linked to spouses who engage in constructive conflict (Cohan, 2011). One of the reasons why women are considered as the experts of the relationships can be deduced from the fact that women strive at introducing themselves regarding their relationships quite often compared to the way men identify themselves with their intimate relationships (Madson, 2011). The act of identifying oneself with the relationships can be deduced from the lifespan of the girls and men; most of the girls tend to always engage in chats with their peers.

In contrast, men are more focused on physical activities. Since women are more focused on relationship issues, compare to men. Hence they tend to ponder about their relationships in a more profound and complex manner compared to men; thus, they tend to identify the relationships based problems more swiftly compared to how men (Tynes, 2014). Women are hence able to identify with ease some of the areas of their relationships that are not adequately addressed; thus, they tend to report more about their relationship standards being not met compared to how often men do. Hence cultural open-mindedness is a vital tool necessary for the success of any marriage. The absence of the cultural open-mindedness results in the failure of marriage and, to some extent, leads to the divorce of the partners.

Cultural Adjustment

Cultural adjustment denotes to the procedure that is mandatory for an individual to go through to work efficiently and live securely in a new place or unfamiliar place. Residing in a new culture needs an individual to learn the habitual behaviors and cultural patterns of a certain community. Most of the female spouses encounter cultural adjustment once they indulge themselves in marriage; they usually have to adopt the various cultural trends being practiced in the new environment. The process of cultural adjustment is often found to be uncomfortable and challenging. Cultural adjustment is subdivided into three parts; Culture surprise, Culture Shock, and Culture Stress.   According to Furnham (2011), Culture shock is viewed as a transitory stress reaction in which physical rewards and the salient psychological are generally uncertain, hence hard to predict or even control. Consequently, a person is seen to be confused, apparently apathetic, and unsure until she gets a chance to establish new cognitive constructs necessary to understand and exhibit suitable behavior.

According to Shafer and Harrison (2012), various perspectives are put in place while striving to understand the female spouse’s adaptation. Shafer (2012) established that adaptation of a female spouse is composed of three dimensions; the way they apt in local culture and customs, the meaning bestowed upon them to become a part of a certain culture, and the way they construct relationships with native citizens. Bauer and Taylor (20010 argued that adaptation of the three dimensions’ rests on constructions of their personality in the fresh culture. Any feature of culture’s attitudes, values, norms, and power structures of behavior can generate borders, tensions, and rifts that are hard for an outsider to navigate and pinpoint, this, in turn, contributes to the culture shock.

According to U.S Census (2010), about 10% of the entire married spouses in households involve spouses from varying ethnicities and races (US Census Bureau 2010a). Some researchers argued that intermarried female couples tend to encounter difficulties due to the varying beliefs, views, attitudes, habits, and value systems (Lashutka, 2014). An increase in the intermarriages in the U.S made more researchers develop an interest in investigating issues facing intermarriages such as the cultural adjustment (Roman 2008).  Most of the researchers have concentrated on intermarriages amid European Americans and African Americans and people from varying nationalities, such as the cases reported in Hawaii (Golebiowaska 2007). Researchers have conducted phenomenological and qualitative research concerning marital adjustment among Iranian American Women with their male spouses who are European Americans.

The results derived from the survey indicated that female spouses exhibited awareness, understanding, non-ethnocentricity, and passion for acquiring new things from the culture they are married to (Seward 2008). According to Seward (2008), female couples were willing to navigate the cultural practices in the region and were willing to adapt to the spouse’s culture. The female spouses tend to adopt spouses’ lifestyles through adjusting to their husband’s practices, developing an understanding concerning their preferences. The spouse’s awareness of the difference between female culture and the husband’s culture was viewed as the first step towards adjusting their culture. The second step towards cultural adjustment was accommodating and sensitive to their cultural difference. Most of the female spouses exhibited an excellent level of consciousness regarding specific traits of the cultural differences, particularly regarding family life. The wives seemed to develop a good understanding of the individualistic components of the husband’s culture (Ok, Yoo, 2017). The female couples could define the differences surrounding cultural behaviors and cultural practices; these confirmed couples’ high level of understanding awareness and adaptation of the culture.

Communication Styles in Partnership

This section in this study is a literature review of communication styles in partners and the role of communication. The communication style is discussed in this section of the study. Communication is defined as a process of transfer of information between peoples or place to place. In relationships, communication helps partners to express their feelings, experiences, and what they require (Hu 2018). Partners meet their needs and get connected through interface through the act of communication (Hu 2018). The effective communication partners interpreted the message and attached the meaning. The integrated and transmitted message may appear simplistic until introduced concepts such as gender and cultural differences, including language, expectations, values, beliefs, and traditions.

The investigation from Simmons (2016) it shows that communication styles in daily interaction such us apology and humbleness. There are four types of communication styles in partnership, passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and assertive. Ogollsky and Gray (2016) studied that Passive communication style is a kind of technique where defers to the partners’ wants and needs while going unmet. The individual with a passive communication style avoids conflicts as their primary aim. Allowing your partner to express emotions, anger, and remaining open to assertiveness will play an essential gain of confidence and experience growth. As suggested by Simmons (2018), aggressive communication is when a partner feels upset, and everyone knows. The words used aggressive partners are loud and forceful and appear to be critical and harsh. They experience struggling with acceptance of responsibilities for their actions. The conflicts of these dynamic partners can become more overwhelming and impossible to solve because they often blame each other. According to Wassink & Cleveland (2018), Passive-aggressive communication style partners avoid confrontation. This desertification is reflected indirectly by the partners as a type of eye roll, sighs, and silent treatment. The other communication style is assertive, Ogollsky, and Gray (2016) mention that partners express their needs and wants while remaining open to the needs of the other partner. The partners also validate each other while they left space for their own emotions. This communication style aims to compromise as a resolution after looking at both sides of every argument.

The Simmons (2018) has also suggested the non-verbal communication. Nonverbal communication styles are often overlooked and may be deemed unimportant. This is a type of communication style it speaks publication. It may consist of looking, grin, scowl, touching, or expressions of surprises. Female spouse has been found to exhibits this kind of communication style more often than men. The researcher found that the female spouse portrayed the behaviors related to the closeness of the partners and found females looked at their partners more often than men.

On the other hand, men express fewer emotions and non-verbal communication styles. This means that men don’t listen to their partners when they speak to them. The Simmons (2018) stated that men had dampened emotions such as anger, and this makes them show less emotion to their partners. For instance, when partners disagree, the situation can become worse as if the man’s spouse expresses his passion by becoming violet.  Wassink & Cleveland (2018) suggested that men are trained to be emotionless in conflict situations. The other researcher suggested that this seems to be accurate; in their study, they focused on nonverbal communication and its relationship with partners. Simmons (2018) discovered that a female spouse who is in contact with partners who can express the right communication style tended to have more complaints about their partners. Men are expected to tone down their feelings and to have an effective communication style may be seen as socially unacceptable to their female spouse; this is as their hypothesis. The question that was raised during the study was, do partners have significant relationship adjustment because they have functional communication styles or have effective communication because they are happy with the relationship.

Several studies found that female spouse has better nonverbal communication styles than men in their relationship. However, encoding and decoding messages are involved when communicating effectively. The natural tendency of females is expensive. Therefore, during encoding messages, men make errors than men, as suggested by the studies. However, the research shows that female was not better decoders or message receiver than men. Although it is quite possible that the unfortunate ability to encode messages effectively by men is the one lead to females not to be a good receiver. In this case, it was also suggested by another researcher that familiarity plays a significant role during nonverbal communication styles.

This research will be useful in the discussion of the spouse communication style within the intercultural partners’ relationship. Individuals’ behaviors and communication styles are profoundly fascinated by values that are from their culture and ethnicity. Women’s spouse and intercultural must modify the interaction accordingly. Ogollsky and Gray (2016) study suggested that the theme of effectiveness and suitable: personal ascribe, psychological adaptations, and cultural awareness. The main factor that impacted the partnership communication style is self-disclosure. The partners demonstrate how the skills are about the other culture, values, customs, norms, and systems Ogollsky and Gray (2016. The friendship relation between the individual and of a different culture was analyzed. The cultural differences in partnership were not seen negatively; instead, the participants’ similarities become the focus. The turning points, guarantee the constant growing of the commitment of each other was the dependent of the right relationship. This study has reviewed the formation of the intimate relationships that are formed into the intercultural adjustment. Intercultural partners face a specific challenge while trying to express their feeling and thoughts to their female spouse, mostly those having distinctly different backgrounds. Partners have potent emotions of affection for a female spouse in their heart, but the intimacy of the relationship and the interaction and communication style is complicated.

Ogollsky and Gray (2016) stated that the theory of the partners expresses experiences based on their interaction and subjective interpretations. Partners are not aware of the outcomes culture has on their minds, emotions, and actions. Individuals are influenced by their culture and get an absolute belief that is correct and operate in the best way (Ogollsky & Gray 2016). Female spouse, on the other hand, they also feel that their beliefs about their partners’ actions are objective and accurate. The involved perceptions can become severe in resolving conflicts through communication.

The key to health and long-lasting relationship is effective communication. When the partners don’t have effective communication, they face problems in their relationships. According to Haris (2018). For this role of communication, the researcher says that communication is the basis of every partner’s relationship. Communication is the pivot of reducing the misunderstanding between partners. The partners become eventually healthy when they interpret their feelings and thoughts.

Haris (2018) mentioned that the health relationship between spouses could be the charm when partners express and reciprocate their emotions through various modes of communication that is nonverbal communication. A mostly female spouse can make out through the use of eyes to show when they are angry, unhappy, or frustrated (Haris 2018). Communicating through hand and body movements, gestures, and facial expressions can make sense. The non-verbal play the role of taking the attention of the angry individual, and you can win him/her.

According to Abraham and Falah (2016), the other role in this study is the communication help in strengthening of the respect within the couples. This is because people are emphatic and can understand on a certain subtle level when wrongdoing. When talking about their future, the spouse listens very kin with respect, and you don’t have to worry whether what you are discussing is good or bad. The partners they go through their expectation together, and this can strengthen their relationship and respecting each other. Without effective communication, it can have an adverse effect.

The researcher has also indicated that communication builds trust in relationships. They say that it takes a long time to build trust without good reasons (Hou, 2019). The link cannot breathe or grow well without intrinsic trust. The trust established by the communication may lead to the spouse to become confident with each other (Hou 2019). The partners must communicate honestly and have a better communication style, which can lead to more trust. Effective communication between partners makes the spouse feel secured, and without the assurance of a couple, the relationship cannot prosper.

This Hou (2019), the role of communication that it motivates the partners to support each other. Without communicating difficulties in the relationship, life can become complicated in unique and beautiful ways. The spouse should make herself available when running into personal challenges so that the other partner can be there for her (Hou 2019). If the other partner does not know about something is wrong, there is nothing that can be better. By improving the communication styles for both partners, they will support each other needs.

The theory of intercultural communication plays a role in interacting with speakers of the other languages on equal terms and respecting their identities (Hu 2018). Scholars have acknowledged this theory that it helps in understanding different values and cultures through communication (Bradbury2016). The interface of intercultural is essential because it linked to understanding other cultures. The conversation develops a positive relationship of one culture with another. During the communication of the spouse, the association is fostered.

Bradbury (2016) suggested that communication allows leaders to evoke their values and culture of the competitive business organization where they represent intercultural communicating skills lead to enhancement of bargaining and help in developments of business deals and contracts by Bradbury (2016). Someone for individual intercultural necessary skills can interact with the other society with different cultural backgrounds. He/she can be treated with a lot of respect, avoiding potential miscommunication and can lead to more productive interactions.

Sharipova (2019) developed a cross-cultural communication style to communicate within the multicultural project team effectively. The project team feels very comfortable when talking with outsiders. They interacted with different methods to be able to deal with flexibility deal. The team was able to communicate and deal with uncertainty, impatient, and ambiguity (Sharipova 2019). However, the role of cultural communication focused on understanding the abilities of communication styles. Intercultural communication enabled the project team to know the perspective, beliefs, and values of the foreigners.

Research Method

This paper will employ the use of a multicultural personality questionnaire.

Participants

The participants are female spouses.

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