Husbands' Conflict Styles in Chinese Mother/Daughter-In-Law Conflicts: Daughters-in-Law's Perspectives

Abstract

This study examined Chinese daughters-in-law's (N = 287) perceptions of the husband's conflict management styles in their dyadic interaction regarding mother/daughter-in-law conflicts and associations with marital satisfaction and relational satisfaction with the mother-in-law. Results showed that the problem-solving style was perceived to be used most by the husband, followed by the accommodating, avoiding, and competing styles. In addition, the problem-solving and accommodating styles were positively associated, whereas the competing and avoiding styles were negatively associated with judgments of communication appropriateness and effectiveness, and the relational satisfaction variables. Furthermore, results indicated a moderator effect of shared family identity on the associations between perceptions of the husband's conflict management styles and relational satisfaction with the mother-in-law. Implications of the findings were discussed with reference to the prior literature on interpersonal conflict management, the Common Ingroup Identity Model, family relationships, as well as culture change in China.