Overcoming barriers to intercultural communication in romantic love relationships across WIERD and non-WEIRD cultural regions

Abstract

Overcoming barriers to Intercultural Communication was explored in new analyses of 5432 participants with partners in a cross-cultural study of romantic love relationships. Intercultural differences were measured by low similarity on race, nationality, ethnicity, or cultural background. Potential barriers were measured by low similarity on attitudes and values, religious beliefs, interests and hobbies, or language. Communication was measured by scales of four topics revealed to and by the partner and trusting the partner not to lie. As predicted, intercultural differences were correlated with potential barriers, barriers were correlated with less communication, and communication was correlated with relationship satisfaction, commitment, and five measures of well-being. Yet measures of intercultural differences were only trivially correlated with communication, with factors that best predict relationship satisfaction, and with relationship satisfaction, commitment, and five measures of well-being. In other words, couples with intercultural dissimilarity are almost as likely to overcome barriers to communication and other challenges to relationship satisfaction and relationship commitment, and are just as likely to achieve well-being, as other couples. These findings were consistent across nine cultural regions around the world, including both WEIRD and non-WEIRD cultural regions. They were also consistent across eight types of romantic love relationship defined by women or men in opposite-sex or same-sex relationships unmarried or married.