Cultural Differences Interracial Couples

When you marry someone, you marry everything that made them who they are, including their culture and race. While marrying someone of a different race can have added challenges, if you go in with your eyes and heart wide open, you can face those challenges together and come out stronger. Here are a few things I've learned:. Your relationship needs to be tight enough not to let naysayers, societal pressure and family opinions wedge you apart, explained Stuart Fensterheim, a couples counselor based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and host of The Couples Expert podcast. Luckily, my husband and I haven't had to face many issues from the outside world. We're so "old" according to our cultures, that our families were just thankful someone of the human race agreed to marry either of us, and we currently live in a diverse section of New York City where no one bats an eye at interracial couples.

The Wilsons talked about their marriage — the early days and why it has endured for 27 years — last week, joining two other couples for a panel discussion on interracial couples at the University of Akron. UA student Abi Uwadiae, 20, an accounting major from Columbus, said she organized the event as part of her duties as diversity chair of the Zips Programming Network for undergraduate students. They live in Canton. They live in North Canton. She is six years older. The two, both attending the University of Utah, met in July and were married Christmas Day of the same year.

Carly Snyder, MD is a reproductive and perinatal psychiatrist who combines traditional psychiatry with integrative medicine-based treatments. It is very rewarding to love someone who is different from you in terms of race, culture, identity, religion, and more. When we are open with each other, we can broaden each other's perspectives, approach the world in different ways, and even find that there is a connection in our differences. Unfortunately, interracial couples can still experience difficulties at times by virtue of the fact that racism exists in our society on a deep level.

Over time, partners form shared practices, norms, understandings, expectations and traditions. These shared practices are often easier to agree upon when all parties have similar backgrounds, histories and beliefs. There are many struggles unique to interracial or intercultural relationships. Most disagreements stem from differences in priorities or value systems. All couples aim to have open communication about differences, but it is especially important in interracial relationships.