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According to a new study from the University of Michigan, sons-in-law play an important role in making a marriage successful. The study, which was conducted over a 26-year period, found that divorce is 20 percent less likely to occur when the husband is able to form a close relationship with his wife’s parents.
The study, which began in 1986, when each of 373 couples were in their first year of marriage, suggests that successful marriages play on the different ways husbands and wives tend to approach their relationships with their in-laws. Whereas women value close relationships with in-laws but may take their involvement as meddling, men tend to interpret in-laws’ actions less personally.
Wives also tend to pay close attention to their parents’ relationships with their husbands, such that when a husband makes efforts to form a good relationship with his wife’s parents, she feels cared for.
One journalist commented about the study that parents of sons should be mindful of behavior their daughter-in-law may interpret as “meddling,” while parents of daughters should be open to bonding with their sons-in-law. Strengthening a marriage may often involve wives maintaining clear boundaries with their in-laws and husbands working at caring for their in-laws and bonding with them.
Divorce can happen for many reasons, and this study may be touching on one aspect of why marriages may fail. Regardless of the causes for the failure of a marriage, it is important to have a strong advocate through the divorce process. Doing so will ensure that one’s interests are represented.
Source: Huffington Post, “In-Laws And Marriage Study: Son-In-Law Key To Lasting Marriage,” November 27, 2012