Dating out is intercultural

Romantic relationships are situated within broader cultural and family contexts, and this may be particularly salient to those in intergroup relationships. This study examined variations in young adults’ experiences with intercultural romantic relationships by ethnicity and immigrant generation. A sample of ethnically diverse young adults (N 1⁄4 628; Asian, Latino, and European background) reported on self and parent attitudes toward dating outside of one’s own culture, own current dating status, and disapproval and conflict with parents over current and past dating status. Analyses revealed three key findings. First, intercultural relationships were evenly distributed across ethnic and immigrant generation groups. Second, participants of Asian background perceived greater attitudinal discrepancies with their parents toward intercultural dating than did participants of Latino and European background and were more likely to report intercultural dating conflict with their parents than Latino participants. Third, first-generation and secondgeneration participants were more likely to report intercultural dating conflict with parents than third-generation participants. Altogether, the findings show the importance of (a) incorporating culture into the conceptualization of intergroup relationships, particularly for ethnic minority and recent immigrant groups, and (b) considering the family context of Corresponding author: Sharon Shenhav, Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. Email: [email protected] Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 1–26 a The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0265407516640387 spr.sagepub.com J S P R by guest on April 7, 2016 spr.sagepub.com Downloaded from intercultural dating relationships. Implications for the study of intergroup romantic relationships are discussed.