The United States has been classified as an individualistic culture where the emphasis of a romantic relationship is on romantic excitement, open communication, and egalitarianism. The Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) has been described as a collectivistic culture where the emphasis is rather on harmony, implicit communication, and a hierarchical relationship (Gudykunst & Matsumoto, 1996). Korean married couples today, however, are in a unique situation where traditional collectivistic values and modern individualistic values dynamically coexist and conflict. Some studies attempted to address the relational maintenance phenomenon in Korea, but were unable to provide a meaningful examination of Korean relational maintenance by relying on Western-inspired measures and overlooking various cultural aspects of modern Korea. Recent studies conducted in Korea suggest that while Korean married couples highly regard individualistic values such as open communication and similarities in personality, they still tend to prioritize parenting issues over couple issues and concern about proper relational hierarchy. As these kinds of changes and confusions occur at different paces between husbands and wives, and also through generations, the marital maintenance phenomenon among Korean married couples becomes more unique and complex. Clinical implications and directions for future research based on these findings were discussed.
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