Ty Martin, Utah Valley University
Social and Behavioral Sciences
The purpose of this study was to explore the marital and personal life outcome of couples who either had in-law troubles or did not. Using Gottman’s (1999) core principles, this study explored the complex challenges young married couples faced when trying to turn toward their spouse while problematic relationships with their spouse’s parents created a wedge. Data was obtained via a random sample of 3,000 current and 7,000 former UVU students. Of the 11 percent who responded, 488 were in their first marriage. Two types of statistical analysis were used to explore the relationship between the married student’s relationship to their in-laws and other personal and marital factors.
First, results from the simple bivariate correlational analysis indicated that having a problem with one’s in-laws was significantly related to the marital relationship. Specifically, in the marital cohesion variables, “we are growing closer together as a couple” and “I prefer being married over being single” were both inversely correlated with having in-law troubles.
Second, the results from the T-Test analysis indicated that there were significant differences between the groups with those who had in-law troubles scoring worse on: growing together as a couple; withdrawing from one another as spouses; spouse having a healthy relationship with in-laws; and preferring being married over being single. Those with in-law troubles were over 4 times as likely to report that they were already avoiding them.
Based on these findings, I conclude that even among current and former university students, having troubles with one’s in-laws negatively impacts respondents’ turning toward one another as a process of building cohesion in the marriage and thereby their satisfaction scores. Doing so, would in fact signify an effort to turn toward one another by reducing, sooner than later, the negative impact a troubled in-law relationship could have if otherwise ignored.