International migration and household conflict

The purpose of this paper was to examine the effect of immigration on marital tension. Our expectations regarding the findings were mixed becuase of two contradictory arguments. The first argument reasons that because immigration can be considered a stressful situation, taxing the family's adaptive resources and efforts, it increases the amount of tension between marital partners. Faced with situations in which previously learned forms of behavior and interaction were inappropriate, the couple would disagree over appropriate ways of adapting. Following this reasoning, immigrant couples were expected to express greater marital tension than native-born couples who have not experienced the same stressful pressures.