“How can I say I love you to an American man and mean it?” Meaning of marriage among Turkish female students living in the U.S.

摘要

The aim of the study was to understand how international students’ expectations changed with respect to marriage as a result of living in the U.S. The sample consisted of 12 unmarried female graduate students from Turkey who have been living in the United States for at least 1 year. Informal, open-ended, and semi-structured interviews were conducted and content analysis method was used to assess the obtained data. International students reported that the meaning of marriage became more individualistic, more logical and less romantic than before.