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Wiley InterScience

Journal of Marriage and Family

Journal of Marriage and Family

Volume 63 Issue 3, Pages 614 - 626

Published Online: 2 Mar 2004

Copyright © National Council on Family Relations, 2010



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The Influence of In-Laws on Change in Marital Success
Chalandra M. Bryant 1 , Rand D. Conger 1 , Jennifer M. Meehan 1
  1 Institute for Social and Behavioral Research, Iowa State University, 2625 North Loop Drive, Suite 500, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010 (cmbryant@iastate.edu).
Copyright 2001 National Council on Family Relations
KEYWORDS
in-laws • marital success • networks • social support

ABSTRACT

This study prospectively examines the association between discord with in-laws and the long-term relationship success of husbands and wives who had been married for an average of almost 2 decades. We hypothesized that the quality of spouses' relationships with their parents-in-law would predict spouses' marital success. In addition, this study underscores the causal role of in-laws by examining the influence of marital success on relationships with in-laws. For wives, discord with mothers- and fathers-in-law predicted own perceptions of marital success at a later time period. Results were slightly different for husbands' discord with fathers-in-law. The reverse (marital success predicting less discord with in-laws) was only true for husbands. The study also explored the influence of spouses' discord with in-laws on partners' perceptions of marital success. These are among the first prospective, longitudinal findings demonstrating that, even in long-term marriages, conflicts in extended family relations will erode marital stability, satisfaction, and commitment over time.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00614.x About DOI

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