Wanted to give a shout out to the wonderful YouTube channel “Dating Beyond Borders” , which brings to life, in its short and funny video skits, the many hurdles that multi-cultural couples have to deal with. And that, of course, is in addition to the difficulties that all couples, regardless of their culture of origin, have to face.
I’d love to find research on the impact of cultural differences on relationships. It is potentially possible, that people who choose to date and marry someone from a different culture than their own, are already, to begin with, more open minded and have a higher emotional intelligence. That is a possibility. If that is the case, then there should be a higher success rate and satisfaction in these couples. It could be, however, equally possible, that the full impact of cultural differences will strike only later, when the initial phase of romance subsides, when extended families and children come into the picture. Then the different customs, different values, different religions and backgrounds might potentially have a detrimental role in the couple’s success. Bringing difficulties which were not anticipated when one was merely dating somebody new and “exotic”.
For the immigrant, dating poses an additional challenge to their experience. Immigrant singles either have to look for a mate among their immigrant peers from the same country. It is important to note here that the length of stay in the new country matters as well, as somebody who have moved as a baby would likely be pretty different, culturally, than somebody who has immigrated as an adult. This makes for a very limited pool of potential candidates. An alternative would be to look for a mate among the natives of the new country, or among immigrants from different places. This does expand the available options. At the same time, however, it brings out all the issues associated with multi-cultural dating and marriages. I would love to find relationships related statistics for the immigrant population.
**Post image from: Dating Beyond Borders