Daughters-in-Law and Stress in Two-Generation Farm Families

Abstract

Most family business owners wish to pass the business to their offspring (Berkowitz & Hedlund, 1979; Bratton, 1976; Ward, 1987), but their success rate is low. For example, Beckhard and Dyer (1983) found that approximately 70% of the family firms they studied were either liquidated or sold after the retirement or death of their founders (also see Birley, 1986). Although economic factors take a toll, the most important reason for intergenerational transfer failure appears to be family dynamics (Dyer, 1986; Rosenblatt, deMik, Anderson, & Johnson, 1985; Ward, 1987). The process is problematic (e.g., Magnuson-Martinson & Bauer, 1986), and all family members report it as stressful (Keating & Munro, 1989; Marotz-Baden, 1988; Rosenblatt & Albert, 1990; Salamon & Markan, 1984; Swogger, 1991; Weigel & Weigel, 1987). Unresolved conflict can break up the family business and attenuate familial support. Thus, it is important for family practitioners to understand succession dynamics in order to help members of family-owned businesses to successfully orchestrate the transfer of assets from one generation to the next in a way that preserves both the business and the family. An important, but often overlooked, person in these family dynamics is the daughter-in-law. This article suggests and tests an explanation of why her stress level is higher than that of other adult family members. The retiring/giving and receiving generations look at the transfer through different lenses (e.g., Keating & Little, 1991; Marotz-Baden, 1986; Rosenblatt et al., 1985; Weigel & Ballard-Reisch, 1991). What is stressful for one generation is not necessarily stressful for the other. Farm family business research suggests that the involved family members face different amounts of stress, with daughters-in-law experiencing the most stress (Marotz-Baden, 1988; Wilson, Marotz-Baden, & Holloway, 1991; Weigel & Weigel, 1987). Unfortunately, reasons for their differential distress have not been studied. Thus, practitioners working with intergenerational business families may focus on fathers and sons, as they are apt to be the most involved in the day-to-day business operations, overlooking daughters-in-law, who may be the most emotionally distressed extended family members. While unresolved tension between fathers and sons may jeopardize the intergenerational continuity of the family business and even result in strained extended family relationships, daughters-in-law's unresolved tension has more dire consequences. In addition to the break-up of her marriage and the subsequent consequences for her children, a divorce, especially in a community property state, may force the family business into bankruptcy. Such action can deprive all members of the extended family of a viable source of income. Thus, practitioners should keep in mind that a daughter-in-law's happiness can greatly influence the emotional and the financial well-being of all members of a small, intergenerational family business. It is important to recognize her roles in the family and in the family business. This article focuses on daughters-in-law in family arm businesses. It describes daughters-in-law in the context of the North American farm family, reviews research documenting their stress, and then tests whether their higher stress levels are related to daughters-in-law's lack of integration into both the extended family and the family business systems. The hypothesized relationship between stress and lack of integration into the extended family system is based on the assumption that the daughter-in-law will want to be integrated into the extended family, as the marriage contract is in some ways a contract between kin groups (Levy, 1966). A second hypothesis is that her stress level will be high if she wants to be integrated into the family business and perceives that she is not. LITERATURE REVIEW Traditionally agrarian communities have been overwhelmingly patriarchal and residentially patrilocal, with the land most commonly passing from one generation of sons to the next. …