For the time being, international marriage has surged in recent years, especially in East and Southeast Asia (Jones Shen, 2008). Moreover, according to the Ministry of Justice, there are more than 16,000 Vietnameseforeigner spouses married in which the other one is mainly from wealthier countries; particularly, in 2018, the number of marriages between Vietnamese and Americans was around 4000 marriages (Ha, 2019). Coming from different cultural backgrounds, namely Western and Eastern ones, VietnameseAmerican couples are still increasingly choosing to marry. Therefore, my research aims to discover the influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage between Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and Americans. Waldman and Rubalcava (2005) stated that many issues of intercultural couples are caused by unrecognized variations in perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors that are rooted in their own cultures, especially in a contrast between Eastern and Western mindsets. Facing this matter, while many spouses may discover that cultural differences make their problems worse (Frame, 2004), some individuals are inspired by unique factors which develop relationships and provide a sense of togetherness, and individualism between them (Uhlich, et al., 2022). For that reason, to deal with cultural differences, each married couple has distinct methods (Falicov, 1995). For example, Tili and Barker (2015) found that Asian partners such as Vietnamese ones who emphasize collectivism may tend to make sacrifices for the benefit of the whole, and
REPORT INTRODUCTION For the time being, international marriage has surged in recent years, especially in East and Southeast Asia (Jones & Shen, 2008) Moreover, according to the Ministry of Justice, there are more than 16,000 Vietnamese-foreigner spouses married in which the other one is mainly from wealthier countries; particularly, in 2018, the number of marriages between Vietnamese and Americans was around 4000 marriages (Ha, 2019) Coming from different cultural backgrounds, namely Western and Eastern ones, Vietnamese-American couples are still increasingly choosing to marry Therefore, my research aims to discover the influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage between Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and Americans Waldman and Rubalcava (2005) stated that many issues of intercultural couples are caused by unrecognized variations in perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors that are rooted in their own cultures, especially in a contrast between Eastern and Western mindsets Facing this matter, while many spouses may discover that cultural differences make their problems worse (Frame, 2004), some individuals are inspired by unique factors which develop relationships and provide a sense of togetherness, and individualism between them (Uhlich, et al., 2022) For that reason, to deal with cultural differences, each married couple has distinct methods (Falicov, 1995) For example, Tili and Barker (2015) found that Asian partners such as Vietnamese ones who emphasize collectivism may tend to make sacrifices for the benefit of the whole, and American partners can contrarily change ways of communication and adopt some Asian traditions of their spouses Based on the aforementioned reasons, the researcher is going to focus on three following questions : What are cultural differences in daily life which affect the international marriage between Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American? How Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American spouses react to influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage? How Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American spouses deal with cultural-differences-caused problems? METHODS Participants There were 80 people in the survey, the majority of whom have lived in Northern metropolitan Vietnam, while the remainder were foreigners, including American, Singaporean, British, Dutch, and French The survey targeted people from 18 to 50 years old People at the ages of 18 - 22 and 31 - 39 eagerly responded to the questions, making up roughly 82,5% of the total participants Additionally, only people (5%) in the 40–50 years old participated in the survey, compared to 10 (12,5%) in the 23–30 years old 54 of them answered the survey in Vietnamese and 26 used English Survey questionnaire All respondents were given a Google form formatted survey to respond to 11 questions that focused on topics including the level of interest in international marriage, viewpoints toward impacts on daily life, and solutions to deal with problems The survey was designed using classic demographic, factual, Likert scale, yes/no, rating scale, and multiple choice in both the general and core sections of the survey Data collection The survey was officially posted on the researcher’s social media accounts including Facebook and Instagram to attract responses of adults from 18-50 years old in the Vietnamese community In addition, the researcher needed some help from friends, family, and teachers to get a variety of responses To get foreigners' answers, a survey was sent through a global dating application - Tinder After days and carefully choosing appropriate responses, the survey was closed to be analyzed RESULTS The survey reflected the perspectives of Vietnamese and foreign adults, aged 18-50 in terms of the influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage The following charts based on the collected data would demonstrate more details Graph Cultural differences in the daily life of international marriage When asked about certain cultural differences emerging in the daily life of international marriage, “religious practices” (81,2%) was chosen by the majority of the participants Additionally, “language barriers“ ranked second, accounting for 76,2%, and “family customs“ stood in third place, making up nearly 69% “Parenting styles”, “social awareness/norms” and “regional manners” ranging from 45% to 55% were considered as the fairly affecting factors Lastly, the remainders reached below 35% Graph Reactions toward influences of cultural differences As can be seen from the pie chart above, most participants, particularly 44 people (55%), responded that cultural differences' influences were neutral regarding the daily life of cross-national marriage Those “positive” selectors made up over a third (37,5%), while only 7,5% of the participants felt “negative” Graph Solutions to problems caused by cultural differences in the daily life The question centered on asking the respondents about the solutions to tackle problems caused by cultural differences Looking at the bar chart, it can be illustrated that “adjust and adapt to the other’s culture", accounting for 76,2%, was the most effective solution Besides, “educate themselves and their families about the other culture” and “be more open-minded" were also popularly selected for the issue which respectively took up 68,7% and 66,2% Furthermore, the least picked-up option was “sacrifice themselves/their identities" which occupied 13,7% DISCUSSION Firstly, the results shared the same opinion as Waldman and Rubalcava (2005) which was that most daily-life issues between international spouses are caused by differences in beliefs, and mindsets Specifically, “religious practices” tended to be the most controversial, along with “parenting styles", “habits", “regional manners” and “family customs” but at a lower rate However, the results indicated that external factors could also bring a profound impact, namely “social awareness/norms” or “financial problems" which were also supported by Yongvanit (2018), and Machette and Cionea (2022) On the other hand, participants with 55% answers were inclined to answer “neutral" They seemed to diverge from the viewpoints of Frame (2004) or Uhlich et al (2022) regarding how Vietnamese and American spouses react to the impacts of cultural differences in daily life because they stated that there are two ways of thinking which are “positive” and “negative”, while respondents considered that cultural differences are double-edged Finally, the participants’ answers revealed that Vietnamese spouses were less likely to sacrifice themselves or their identities for the sake of their families which was a contradicting idea compared to the idea of Tili and Barker (2015) Nevertheless, they held similarities with Tili and Barker’s second point that “adjust and adapt to the other's culture" and “communicate effectively" were one of the most-selected options to address their daily-life issues While other researchers have not concentrated much on the influences of different cultural backgrounds on international marriage between Western and Eastern backgrounds, this study's findings will further reveal how Northern metropolitan Vietnamese-American spouses react to impacts of cultural differences in their daily life and also provide creditable data for other research afterward LIMITATIONS The report is fairly educational and informative in terms of this topic However, because of the comparatively small number of participants, the study can briefly touch on a few facets of the subject in a small location in Vietnam and cannot fully include every perspective of the originally targeted participants related to the issue In order to increase the impartiality and correctness of the studies, it is advised that more research be done using a variety of participants from other cities and provinces REFERENCES Falicov, C J (1995) Cross-cultural marriages In N.S Jacobson & A.S Gurman (Eds) Clinical handbook of couple therapy (pp 231-246) Guildford Publications Frame, M W (2004) The challenges of intercultural marriage: Strategies for pastoral care Pastoral Psychology, 52(3), 219-232 https://doi.org/10.1023/B:PASP.0000010024.32499.3 Ha, T (2019, December 13) More than 16,000 marriages between Vietnamese and foreigners each year Vietnamtimes https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/more-than-16000-marriages-betwe en-vietnamese-and-foreigners-each-year-17254.html Jones, G., & Shen, H.H (2008) International marriage in East and Southeast Asia: trends and research emphases Citizenship Studies, 12(1), 9–25 10.1080/13621020701794091 Machette, A., & Cionea, I (2022) In-laws, Communication, and Other Frustrations: The Challenges of Intercultural Marriages Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships https://doi.org/10.23668/ psycharchives.7773 Tili, T.R, & Barker, G.G (2015) Communication in Intercultural Marriages: Managing Cultural Differences and Conflicts Southern Communication Journal, 80(3), 189-210 10.1080/1041794X.2015.1023826 Uhlich, M., Luginbuehl, T., & Schoebi, D (2022) Cultural diversity within couples: Risk or chance? A meta analytic review of relationship satisfaction Personal Relationships, 29(1), 120-145 https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12405 Waldman, K., & Rubalcava, L (2005) Psychotherapy with Intercultural Couples: A Contemporary Psychodynamic Approach American Journal of Psychotherapy, 59(3), 227-245 https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2005.59 3.227 Yongvanit, S (2018, August 16) International marriage: Life must go on! The 2nd International Conference on Technology, Education, and Social Science 2018, Thailand https://ejurnal.unisri.ac.id/index.php/proictss/article/view/2136 APPENDIX Survey Influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage of Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American Greetings, my name is Le My, studying at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam For the time being, I am conducting a report on "Influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage of Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American" In order to gain idealistic contributions of international marriage, especially in terms of cultural differences, I'd like to ask you some questions regarding this matter The report mainly focuses on Northern metropolitan Vietnamese or foreign adults who are between 18 and 50 years old In this survey, please feel free to express your opinions Your answers are kept confidential and used to serve the report only Thank you for your cooperation! ======================================= I General information Which age group you belong to? A B C D 18 - 22 23 - 30 31 - 39 40 - 50 What is your gender? A B C Female Male Other: What is your nationality? 10 A B C Vietnam America Other: What is your marital status? A Single B Occupied C Married D Separated E Divorced F Other: II Main questions Have you known at least one international couple? A B C Sure Not sure I not know Have you been in an international relationship? A B C I have been in an international relationship I have not been in an international relationship I am now in an international relationship Rate your level of interest in international marriage not interested extremely interested 4 Do you agree that cultural differences appear in an international marriage? definitely agree definitely disagree If you choose "Disagree" and "Definitely disagree", please say why Which cultural differences in daily life affect international marriage? 11 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Language barriers Religious practices Cuisines Parenting styles Family customs Regional manners Social awareness/norms Habits Communication Gender roles in the family Family pressures Political views Financial problems Other: How you feel about the impact of cultural differences? (If you choose 1, please answer question If you choose 3, please answer question 9.) A B C Positive Neutral Negative What positive impacts cultural differences cause in the daily life of international marriage? A B C D E F G Have a multicultural environment Strengthen interactions Broaden mindset Know more about different cultures Develop a sense of intimacy Pride of family/social welcome Other: What negative impacts cultural differences cause in the daily life of international marriage? A B C D Have more conflicts Increase the possibility of divorce Cause mental problems Lose national identities 12 E F G Overpride of family/social welcome Family responsibilities Other: 10 How spouses deal with problems caused by cultural differences?* A B C D E F G H Educate themselves and their families about the other culture Adjust and adapt to one another’s cultures Communicate efficiently Be more open-minded Set rules for unchangeable factors Create their own family cultures Sacrifice themselves/their identities Other: 11 Is there anything else you want to share about international marriage? Thank you for your response! 13 ... Academy of Vietnam For the time being, I am conducting a report on "Influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage of Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American"... terms of the influences of cultural differences on the daily life of international marriage The following charts based on the collected data would demonstrate more details Graph Cultural differences. .. questions : What are cultural differences in daily life which affect the international marriage between Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American? How Northern metropolitan Vietnamese and American