The relationship of attributions to marital distress: A comparison of mainland Chinese and US couples

Research on attribution theory has focused on a number of different social contexts. Close personal relationships and marriage in particular have been investigated widely. Cross-cultural differences in attribution patterns ha ve also been explored, although mostly in relation to academic achievement or employment. This article focused on cross-cultural variations in marital attributions. Thirty-six couples from the People's Republic of China (P.R. C.) and 32 couples from the United States (U.S.) were included. Marital att ributions were correlated with marital distress for both groups. However, t he P.R.C. spouses tended to report more relationship-enhancing causal attri butions than did U.S. spouses. There were also some differences in attribut ions of responsibility and blame across cultures. These findings are discus sed in relationship to current marital attribution theory.