title: Communication and relationship satisfaction in Chinese, Western, and intercultural Chinese-Western couples.
abstract: The current study compared Chinese, Western, and intercultural Chinese-Western couples' communication and examined how culture moderates the association of communication with relationship satisfaction. We coded the communication of 33 Western couples, 36 Chinese couples, and 54 intercultural Chinese-Western couples when discussing a relationship problem and when reminiscing about positive relationship events. Couples with Chinese female partners showed fewer positive behaviors and more negative behaviors (as classified in existing Western coding systems) than couples with Western female partners. The male partner's culture had few associations with couples' rates of communication behavior. Relationship satisfaction was associated with low rates of negative behaviors and high rates of most of the positive behaviors across cultural groups, and these associations were more evident in problem discussions than positive reminiscences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Queensland.
authors.forename: Danika N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Hiew
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Queensland.
authors.forename: W Kim
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Halford
authors.affiliation: Department of School of Cultural Studies, Tilburg University.
authors.forename: Fons J R
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van de Vijver
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001315:Australia; D003142:Communication; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data