Intercultural and Intracultural Relationships: Interaction Styles

My fiancé and I have been together for 3 years. We have many similarities, and many differences. We both have European American backgrounds. I would consider our relationship to be intracultural. Even though we are in an intracultural relationship, we have used intercultural relationship styles of interaction at many different times throughout our relationship. The three styles are defined as submission style where one partner accepts the culture of the other partner, abandoning or denying his or her own, compromise style when each partner gives up some parts of his or her culturally bound habits and beliefs to accommodate the other, and obliteration style when both partners deal with differences by attempting to erase their individual cultures, sometimes creating a new culture (Martin & Nakayama, 257). Based on each conflict that we have dealt with in our relationship, sometimes I have submitted his style in our culture (and he has done the same for me), there have been many times that we have compromised, and sometimes we have decided to obliterate our culture and come up with a new solution. It is interesting that our text talks about these styles in regards to only intercultural marriages and relationships. I believe they are important interaction styles for all relationships.