Daughter-in-law Standards for Mother-in-law Communication: Associations With Daughter-in-law Perceptions of Relational Satisfaction and Shared Family Identity

Abstract

Toward further understanding of the relationship between standards and relational quality in mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relations, daughters-in-law (N = 624) reported on the following: standards for mother-in-law supportive communication, standards for mother-in-law family disclosure, perceptions of mother-in-law enactment of supportive communication and family disclosure, and perceived mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship quality (relational satisfaction and shared family identity). These variables were tested via three hypotheses: distressful ideals, unmet ideals, and discrepancy evaluations. Despite some support for all hypotheses, the associations between standards and relational quality varied slightly between the two communication behaviors. For supportive communication, the unmet ideals and discrepancy evaluations hypotheses yielded greater associations than the distressful ideals hypothesis. For family disclosure, the unmet ideals hypothesis resulted in the strongest associations. Results are discussed in regard to further inclusion of standards within the context of in-law relationships.