In-Law Relationships Before and After Marriage: Husbands, Wives, and Their Mothers-in-Law

Relationships with in-laws can play an important role in individuals' lives. Dimensions of the early relationship and expectations of the future relationship may affect subsequent in-law ties. Men and women engaged to be married and their mothers (N = 240) completed interviews prior to and 6 to 8 months following the wedding. At time 1, participants reported behavioral emotional and cognitive dimensions of the relationship and open-ended expectations of their future tie. Multilevel models revealed that when the parties had individual contact and positive feelings before the wedding, ties were stronger following marriage. For coded open-ended descriptions, if family members expressed concern that their in-law relationship would not be close or if they mentioned other social partners as causing potential future problems, they reported more negative relationship quality after the wedding.