Family adjustment, work involvement and support networks of international wives: A cross-national study

This cross-national study identifies and examines the major social factors that affect family adjustment and labor-force involvement of three groups of American, French and Indian wives--or international wives--who have relocated to Washington D.C. for the purpose of their husband's career. Structural conditions and gender-role ideologies vary by nationality, influencing the distribution of resources and power between husbands and wives. More specifically, these factors affect the wives' level of resources for facilitating family adjustment and for finding employment opportunities in the new locale. International wives used different coping mechanisms based on the types and levels of resources available to them. One of the major changes in resources affecting relocated families, especially foreign families, is the loss of support from friends and family members. In the research population under study, the wives also experienced temporary loss of their husbands, who had often been sent on business trips right after relocation. This study examines and compares cross-nationally the types of support networks--as intangible resources--available to these wives. It focuses on five types of them: informational, instrumental, financial, emergency, and socio-emotional support networks. The study analyzes the effect of these networks on family adjustment and wives' labor-force involvement. Migration frequently limits wives' employment opportunities to a part-time job at low pay or no job at all. While the employment opportunity situation varies for the three groups of wives--American wives being more advantaged than French and particularly Indian wives in this regard--all these highly educated and relatively privileged women remained at a disadvantage in terms of marital resources and power. Because of the demanding work and frequent travels of their husbands, the wives in all three nationality groups tended to accommodate their work or social activity to their families rather than the converse. Whatever their national origin, however, all the wives displayed resiliency and courage in coping with relocation challenges. The women manifested great ingenuity in dealing with emergency situations and generally adjusted successfully to their new life conditions.