Love better by fighting smarter: How intercultural couples develop dyadic cultural affinity through romantic conflict management

Abstract

Guided by the conflict face-negotiation theory and the culturally based romantic relationship model, this study employed in-depth interviews with twelve intercultural couples (n = 24) to explore relational dynamics and nuances of couples handling conflicts and developing dyadic cultural affinity through their conflict management experiences. Aligning with extant literature, our findings uncovered five conflict management styles employed by intercultural couples: avoiding, competing, compromising, yielding, and emotional expression. Additionally, three primary relational outcomes emerged from the data: reaching temporary satisfaction, recognizing positive changes, and identifying recurrent problems. The findings further demonstrated how intercultural romantic partners developed dyadic cultural affinity by progressively gaining deeper mutual understanding through their conflict interactions, building consensus, and consequently nurturing a shared sense of cultural affinity as a couple. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.