Two studies examined emotional intimacy in European Canadian and Chinese Canadian dating relationships. Cultural differences in gender-role ideology and individualism—collectivism were hypothesized to differentially contribute to self-disclosure and responsiveness, and in turn, intimacy. Study 1 revealed that Chinese Canadians' lower intimacy relative to European Canadians was mediated by their greater gender-role traditionalism but not by their individualism or collectivism. Study 2 further linked greater gender-role traditionalism to lower self-disclosure, and in turn, lower intimacy. Results also revealed that Chinese Canadians' lower intimacy mediated their lower relationship satisfaction and higher rate of relationship termination in Study 1, but that Chinese Canadians were not any more likely to terminate their relationships in Study 2.
Adams, G. , Anderson, S.L. , & Adonu, J.K. (2004). The cultural grounding of closeness and intimacy . In D. J. Mashek & A. P. Aron (Eds.), The handbook of closeness and intimacy (pp. 321—339). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
2.
Altman, I. , & Taylor, D.A. (1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
3.
Argyle, M. , Henderson, M. , Bond, M. , Iizuka, Y. , & Contarello, A. (1986). Cross-cultural variation in relationship rules . International Journal of Psychology , 21, 287—315.
4.
Baron, R.M. , & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173—1182.
5.
Baxter, L.A. (1988). A dialectical perspective on communication strategies in relationship development. In S. W. Duck (Ed.), A handbook of personal relationships (pp. 257—273). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
6.
Bem, S.L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155—162.
7.
Berry, J.W. , Poortinga, Y.H. , Segall, M.H. , & Dasen, P.R. (2002). Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
Bond, M.H. , & Hwang, K.K. (1986). The social psychology of Chinese people. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), The psychology of the Chinese people (pp. 213—266). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
9.
Bradford, S.A. , Feeney, J.A. , & Campbell, L. (2002). Links between attachment orientations and dispositional and diary-based measures of disclosure in dating couples: A study of actor and partner effects . Personal Relationships, 9, 491—506.
10.
Burleson, B.R. , & Mortenson, S.R. (2003). Explaining cultural differences in evaluations of emotional support behaviors: Exploring the mediating influences of value systems and interaction goals . Communication Research , 30, 113—146.
11.
Chen, G. -M. (1995). Differences in self-disclosure patterns among Americans versus Chinese: A comparative study . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 26, 84—91.
12.
Chia, R.C. , Moore, J.L. , Lam, K.N. , Chuang, C.J. , & Cheng, B.S. (1994). Cultural differences in gender role attitudes between Chinese andAmerican students. Sex Roles, 31, 23—30.
13.
Cota, A.A. , & Xinaris, S. (1993). Factor structure of the sex-role ideology scale: Introducing a short form . Sex Roles, 29, 345—358.
14.
Cozby, P.C. (1973). Self-disclosure: A literature review . Psychological Bulletin, 79, 73—91.
15.
Davis, D. , & Perkowitz, W.T. (1979). Consequences of responsiveness in dyadic interactions: Effects of probability of response and proportion of content related responses . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 534—550.
16.
DeVos, G. (1985). Dimensions of the self in Japanese culture. In A. J. Marsella , G. DeVos , & F. L. K. Hsu (Eds.), Culture and self: Asian and Western perspectives (pp. 141—184). London: Tavistock.
17.
Dindia, K. (1997). Self-disclosure, self-identity, and relationship development: A transactional/ dialectical perspective. In S. W. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships (pp. 411—426). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
18.
Dion, K.K. , & Dion, K.L. (1991). Psychological individualism and romantic love . Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 17—33.
19.
Dion, K.K. , & Dion, K.L. (1993). Individualistic and collectivistic perspectives on gender and the cultural context of love and intimacy . Journal of Social Issues, 49, 53—69.
20.
Duck, S.W. , & Sants, H.K.A. (1983). On the origins of the specious: Are personal relationships really interpersonal states ? Journal of Clinical and Social Psychology, 1, 27—41.
21.
Eagly, A.H. , & Wood, W. (1999). The origins of sex differences in human behavior: Evolved dispositions versus social roles . American Psychologist , 54, 408—423.
22.
Firestone, R.W. , & Firestone, L. (2004). Methods for overcoming the fear of intimacy. In D. J.Mashek & A. P. Aron (Eds.), Handbook of closeness and intimacy (pp. 375—395). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
23.
Fuess, H. (2004). Divorce in Japan: Family, gender, and the state , 1600—2000. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
24.
Gao, G. (1991). Stability of romantic relationships in China and the United States. In S. Ting-Toomey & F. Korzenny (Eds.), Cross-cultural interpersonal communication. International and intercultural communication annual, Vol. 15 (pp. 99—115). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
25.
Gao, G. (2001). Intimacy, passion, and commitment in Chinese and US American romantic relationships . International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 25, 329—342.
26.
Goodwin, R. , & Lee, I. (1994). Taboo topics among Chinese and English friends . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 25, 325—328.
27.
Gottman, J.M. , & Notarius, C.I. (2000). Decade review: Observing marital interaction . Journal of Marriage & Family, 62, 927—947.
28.
Gudykunst, W.B. , & Matsumoto, Y. (1996). Cross-cultural variability of communication in personal relationships. In W. B. Gudykunst , S. Ting-Toomey , & T. Nishida (Eds.), Communication in personal relationships across cultures (pp. 19—56). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
29.
Hassebrauck, M. , & Fehr, B. (2002). Dimensions of relationship quality . Personal Relationships, 9, 253—270.
30.
Hastings, S.O. (2000). Asian Indian “self-suppression” and self-disclosure: Enactment and adaptation of cultural identity . Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 19, 85—109.
31.
Heine, S.J. (2001). Self as cultural product: An examination of East Asian and NorthAmerican selves. Journal of Personality, 69, 881—906.
32.
Hill, C.T. , Rubin, Z. , & Peplau, L.A. (1976). Breakups before marriage: The end of 103 affairs . Journal of Social Issues, 32, 147—168.
33.
Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics. (1993). Downloaded December 15, 2004, from http://www.fu-berlin.de/gesund/publicat/hong12.htm
34.
Hsu, F.L.K. (1985). The self in cross-cultural perspective. In A. J. Marsella , G. DeVos , & F. L. K. Hsu (Eds.), Culture and self: Asian and Western perspectives (pp. 24—55). London: Tavistock.
35.
Jack, D.C. (1991). Silencing the self: Women and depression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
36.
Jourard, S.M. (1971). Self-disclosure: An experimental analysis of the transparent self. New York: Wiley .
37.
Kalin, R. , & Tilby, P.J. (1978). Development and validation of a sex-role ideology scale . Psychological Reports, 42, 731—738.
38.
Kashima, Y. , Yamaguchi, S. , Kim, U. , Choi, S. , Gelfand, M.J. , & Yuki, M. (1995). Culture, gender, and self: A Perspective from individualism—collectivism research . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 925—937.
39.
Kashy, D.A. , & Kenny, D.A. (2000). The analysis of data from dyads and groups. In H. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social psychology (pp. 451—477). New York: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Keyes, S. (1984). Measuring sex-role stereotypes: Attitudes among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents and the development of the Chinese sex-role inventory . Sex Roles, 10, 129—140.
41.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K. , Fisher, B.S. , Ogrocki, P. , Stout, J.C. , Speicher, C.E. , & Glaser, R. (1988). Marital discord and immunity in males . Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 213—229.
42.
Laurenceau, J.-P. , Feldman Barrett, L. , & Pietromonaco, P.R. (1998). Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1238—1251.
43.
Laurenceau, J.-P. , Feldman Barrett, L. , & Rovine, M.J. (2005). The interpersonal process model of intimacy in marriage: A daily-diary and multilevel modeling approach . Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 314—323.
44.
Lebra, T.S. (1976). Japanese patterns of behavior. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
45.
Lin, Y.C. (1992). The construction of the sense of intimacy from everyday social interaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Rochester , NY.
46.
Liu, C.-L.J. (2003). A relational self model of gender role identity of young Taiwanese women within their cultural context . Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities & Social Sciences, 63(9-A), 3357 .
47.
Loscocco, K.A. , & Bose, C.E. (1998). Gender and job satisfaction in urban China: The early post-Mao period . Social Science Quarterly, 79, 91—109.
48.
McAdams, D.P. (1988). Personal needs and personal relationships. In S. W. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships (pp. 7—22). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
49.
Markus, H.R. , & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation . Psychological Review, 98, 224—253.
50.
Matsumoto, D. (2004). The role of individualism—collectivism in future cross-cultural research . Cross-cultural Psychology Bulletin, 38, 10—18.
51.
Miller, L.C. , Berg, J.H. , & Archer, R.L. (1983). Openers: Individuals who elicit intimate self-disclosure . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 1234—1244.
52.
Moore, R.L. (1998). Love and limerence with Chinese characteristics: Student romance in the PRC. In V. C. de Munck (Ed.), Romantic love and sexual behavior: Perspectives from the social sciences (pp. 251—283). Westport, CT: Praeger.
53.
Murray, S.L. , Holmes, J.G. , Dolderman, D. , & Griffin, D.W. (2000). What the motivated mind sees: Comparing friends' perspectives to married partners' views of each other . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 600—620.
54.
Neff, K.D. , & Suizzo, M.A. (2006). Culture, power, authenticity, and psychological well-being within romantic relationships: A comparison of European Americans and Mexican Americans . Cognitive Development, 21, 441—457.
55.
Pegalis, L.J. , Shaffer, D.R. , Bazzini, D.G. , & Greenier, K. (1994). On the ability to elicit self-disclosure: Are there gender-based and contextual limitations on the opener effect ? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 412—420.
56.
Prager, K.J. (1995). The psychology of intimacy. New York: Guilford.
57.
Reis, H.T. , & Shaver, P. (1988). Intimacy as an interpersonal process. In S. W. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships (pp. 367—389). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
58.
Reis, H.T. , Collins , & Berscheid (2000). The relationship context of human behavior and development . Psychological Bulletin,126, 844—872.
59.
Rhee, E. , Uleman, J.S. , & Lee, H.K. (1996). Variations in collectivism and individualism by ingroup and culture: Confirmatory factor analysis . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1037—1054.
60.
Rubin, Z. (1970). Measurement of romantic love . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 265—273.
61.
Rubin, Z. , Hill, C.T. , Peplau, L.A. , Dunkel-Schetter, C. (1980). Self-disclosure in dating couples: Sex roles and the ethic of openness . Journal of Marriage and the Family , 42, 305—317.
62.
Schaefer, M.T. , & Olson, D. , H. (1981). Assessing intimacy: The pair inventory . Journal of Marital and Family Therapy , 7, 47—60.
63.
Schneller, D.P. , & Arditti, J.A. (2004). After the break-up: Interpreting divorce and rethinking intimacy . Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 42, 1—37.
64.
Seki, K. , Matsumoto, D. , & Imahori, T.T. (2002). The conceptualization and expression of intimacy in Japan and the United States . Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 33, 303—319.
65.
Singelis,T.M. , Triandis, H.C. , Bhawuk, B.P.S. , & Gelfand, M.J. (1995). Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism: A theoretical and measurement refinement . Cross-Cultural Research, 29(3), 240—275.
66.
Sobel, M.E. (1982). Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models . Sociological Methodology, 13, 290—312.
67.
Snijders, T.A.B. , & Kenny, D.A. (1999). The social relations model for family data: A multilevel approach . Personal Relationships, 6(4), 471—486.
68.
Sprecher, S. , & Hendrick, S.S. (2004). Self-disclosure in intimate relationships: Associations with individual and relationship characteristics over time . Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 23, 857—877.
69.
Sternberg, R.J. (1997). Construct validation of a triangular love scale . European Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 313—335.
70.
Tang, T.N. , & Tang, C.S. (2001). Gender role internalization, multiple roles, and Chinese women's mental health . Psychology of Women Quarterly , 25, 181—196.
71.
The New York Times (2005, October 4). Women in China embrace divorce as stigma eases . Downloaded October 5, 2005 from www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/international/asia/04divorce.html?hp&ex=1128398400&en=c318e297077be582&ei=5094&partner=homepage
72.
Thompson, E.H. , & Pleck, J.H. (1986). The structure of male role norms . American Behavioral Scientist, 29, 531—543.
73.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1991). Intimacy expressions in three cultures: France, Japan, and the United States . International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 15, 29—46.
74.
Triandis, H.C. (1993). Collectivism and individualism as cultural syndromes . Cross-Cultural Research, 27, 155—180.
75.
Triandis, H.C. , Bontempo, R. , Villareal, M.J. , Asai, M. , & Lucca, N. (1988). Individualism and collectivism: Cross-cultural perspectives on self-ingroup relationships . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 323—338.
76.
Ward, C. , & Sethi, R.R. (1986). Cross-cultural validation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 17, 300—314.
77.
Waring, E.M. , Holden, R.R. , Wesley, S. (1998). Development of the Marital Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (MSDQ) . Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 817—824.
78.
Wetzel, P.J. (1991). Are “powerless” communication strategies the Japanese norm? In S. Ide & N. H. McGloin (Eds.), Aspects of Japanese women's language (pp. 117—128). Tokyo : Kurosio.
79.
Wheeler, L. , & Nezlek, J. (1977). Sex differences in social participation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 742—754.
80.
Wheeler, L. , Reis, H.T. , & Bond, M.H. (1989). Collectivism-individualism in everyday social life: The middle kingdom and the melting pot . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 79—86.
81.
Zhang, J. , Norvilitis, J.M. , & Jin, S. (2001). Measuring gender orientation with the Bem sex role inventory in Chinese culture . Sex Roles, 44, 237—251.
82.
Zuo, J. (2003). From revolutionary comrades to gendered partners: Marital construction of breadwinning in post-Mao urban China . Journal of Family Issues, 24, 314—337.
