Expatriate Couples’ Adjustment: The Pros and Cons of Avoiding Interpersonal Conflict

This research examines the moderating effect of conflict avoidance on the relationship between interpersonal conflict and psychological adjustment among 56 expatriate couples at two points in time. We propose a model based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model - which assumes both individual and “cross-party” effects - to address simultaneously the effects of own and other’s avoidance behavior. We found substantial support for our model, in that both parties’ conflict perceptions were detrimental to their own psychological adjustment. Additionally, regarding avoidance, three factors were essential: I) role (expatriate versus expatriate partner), II) level of conflict, and III) time. First, direct and moderating effects of avoidance were only significant for expatriate partners, suggesting that expatriate partners are more sensitive to reaction to conflict than expatriates. Second, high conflict resulted in higher adjustment when avoidance was high, whereas low conflict resulted in higher adjustment when avoidance was low. Presumably, severe threats to the intimate relationship, that is, high conflict is better avoided, whereas smaller threats should be faced. Third, the findings were significant at Time 2, but not at Time 1. Implications of the findings for our understanding of expatriation are discussed.