| This research was born out of a concern for the marriages of fellow Kenyan immigrant spouses and parents in the US. Many Kenyan couples in the American diaspora had lost their marriages and others were struggling in their marital relationships. Initial research indicated possible reasons for the couples' marital problems.;Many Kenyan immigrant spouses reportedly found a number of US cultural tenets to be difficult for them to adopt. Where one spouse accepted cultural tenets that his or her partner felt uncomfortable adopting, friction resulted. Many Kenyan immigrant men, for instance, reportedly found it unbearable to begin performing house chores, as those were generally women's responsibilities in Kenya. Likewise, many of the women were said to be unwilling to submit to their husbands' chauvinistic control, as they had culturally been forced to do while the couples were living in Kenya. There were also claims that Kenyan immigrant parents were not free in the US to assertively discipline their children, including spanking them, as they had been while they were living in Kenya.;Consequently, the study explored various marital problems experienced by the Kenyan immigrant couples, established the factors causing them, and made some recommendations to help the couples to maintain stronger marriages. The study's hypothesis was that marital problems among Kenyan immigrant couples in the US were caused by the couples' experiences of cultural dissonance occasioned by cultural differences between Kenya and the US. Library research, field interviews, and case studies were utilized.;The research verified most of the cultural conflicts experienced by the Kenyan immigrant couples. However, the study also established that some of the marital problems might have had nothing to do with Kenya-US cultural differences, as seen, for instance, in the younger couples' willingness to adapt to US culture, unlike their older counterparts. Based on the study's findings, it was recommended to Kenyan immigrant couples in the US to maintain stronger marriages by resolving to remain in their marriages, conserving the good aspects of the African culture, rejecting the unacceptable tenets of US culture, and strengthening their spiritual, marital, and family lives. The study also made some recommendations for further research. |
