Gender differences in the meaning of dating and marriage among international students from Turkey

Abstract

In this qualitative study, we interviewed 12 female and 10 male graduate students from Turkey. All of the participants have been living in the US for at least a year. Given that the collectivistic Turkish culture is very different than the more individualistic American culture, we aimed at understanding how men and women’s meaning of dating and marriage changed as a result of living in the US. We conducted semi-structured interviews to understand the gender differences in the experience of change as experienced by the participants. The results and implications for cross-cultural research are discussed.