Coming to America: the impact of acculturation and cultural identity on the preference for arranged versus love marriage among Indian Hindus residing in the United States

Abstract

While marriage is a social institution that has been well-established and well-studied by scholars from various fields over the course of human history, the customs, traditions, rituals and even styles of marriage change within cultural groups over time due to various factors like time, socio-cultural differences, population migration and overall changes in societal norms. The Hindu culture within the United States is one such cultural group that seems to be undergoing tremendous changes in its marriage style, as more immigrants are opting not to get involved in arranged marriages. The goal of this study was to examine how various changes that happen due to migration impact individuals‟ decisions between an arranged marriage and a love marriage in the United States. Participants were 247 Hindu immigrants living in the United States recruited via social networking sites, and e-mail advertisements to various Indian-American organizations throughout the United States. They completed various measures of acculturation, cultural identity, attitudes towards arranged marriage and love marriage and various demographic variables. Results revealed that individuals‟ acculturation strategies did in fact have an impact on whether they preferred arranged marriage or love marriage. Cultural identity did not have an influence on the type of marriage individuals preferred. These findings suggest that psychological and socio-cultural changes that occur due to events such as migration have a long-term impact on individuals‟ personal decisions such as mate selection. Further research in this area seems to be essential both in terms of theory development and in terms of practical applications of these findings to various domains in life.