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Intercultural Relationships in Russia: Marital Satisfaction, Mental Health and Wellness
Russian Federation is one of the most multicultural societies in the world, with 194 ethnic groups living on its territory, and with one of the largest numbers of migrants. It has long experience of cohabitation of the peoples in a federal structure with the purposeful preservation of cultural diversity.
The chapter presents a brief overview of studies of intercultural couples in Russia, provides the identified characteristics of such couples, the main challenges and the factors of marital and life satisfaction in such couples.
The chapter shows that the main factors of intercultural couples’ marital and life satisfaction in Russia are: value unity of spouses, their acculturation strategies, place of couple's residence, the spouses’ assessment of the degree of their own influence on the family life, attachment, separation from the parental family, the level of their ego-differentiation and the level of social support.
Analysis of the Russian experience of supporting the mental health and well-being of members of diverse intercultural unions will be useful for increasing the intercultural sensitivity of specialists providing psychological assistance to intercultural families around the world.