Abstract
This interpretive study gathered information from interviews with 42 participants who had recently acquired in-laws. Rather than examining specific dyads on in-laws, this study explored how the entry of the newcomer into a family group created tensions that were managed as the newcomer advanced through the stages of socialization into the group. Relational dialectics analysis indicated that in-laws experienced the external dialectical tensions of inclusion/seclusion, conventionality/uniqueness, and revelation/concealment. However, the tensions manifested in unique ways and were managed with a variety of strategies, some of them unique to the in-law relationship. New strategies for managing these tensions included mediating the communication between some in-laws, while seeking closer direct communication among adult siblings (-in-law). Through new relationships with adult siblings, the family was transformed from the family-of-childhood to the family-of-adulthood. These findings suggest that in-law relationships deserve further study.
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