Here’s Why the Mother-In-Law May Bicker with You…
Arizona State University researchers have polled over 300 people, about their relationships with their parents, children, and in-laws.
They found that participants were more likely to report poorer relationships with their mother-in-laws, compared to their genetic mothers. And mothers reported having slightly less conflict with their daughters than with their child’s spouse.
However: Fathers got along better with their daughter-in-laws than their genetic daughters.
Financial resources and childcare were the most common reasons for arguments between mother-in-laws and daughters-in-law. And researchers note this is “striking,” because both are “central to long-term reproductive success as resources and time and effort spent on kin care are finite.”
Researchers add that arguments with in-laws are likely “influenced by genetic conflict,” as each person “unconsciously act[s] in the interest of their genetic kin.”
The scientists also say that fathers may get along better with their daughter-in-laws than their genetic daughters, because the father-daughter relationship may experience strain when the daughter enters a new relationship… But the strain may lessen over time if the father believes her partner strengthens the family unit.
Hitch up to more, here: (Daily Mail)
- A new study finds that conflicts between a mother-in-law and her son-in-law or daughter-in-law, particularly their daughter-in-law, could be due to the mother unconsciously acting in the interest of her own genetic kin, due to evolution