ABSTRACT
The Ballard-Reisch and Weigel model advances that through communication, couples negotiate the roles, power, and climate within their marriages. This dynamic process of negotiation is also impacted by the context or "ecological influences" within which relationships exist. For US couples, the road to domestic bliss is a rough one. Due to a variety of complex political, economic, and social factors, it is even rougher for Russian couples. At the societal level, the cultural environment, including historical, social, political, and economic factors, has the ability to impact couples' decisions regarding their marriages. Russian culture has traditionally been grounded in essentialism, the view that there are inherent biologically based differences between women and men that manifest themselves in psychological and behavioral differences. The conflict between beliefs regarding biological essentialism and patriarchy in contrast to communist notions of equality were further compounded by inconsistency on the part of the government in advancing equality.
