Making Sense of Hurtful Mother-inlaw Messages: Applying Attribution Theory to the In-Law Triad

摘要

This study focused on hurtful messages daughters-in-law (DILs, N¼132) reportedrnreceiving from mothers-in-law (MILs). Results reveal various hurtful message types:rnunder- and overinvolvement, personal attacks, and hurt communicated to or throughrna third party. Grounded in attribution theory, we examined DILs’ attributions forrnMILs’ hurtful messages and their perceived agreement with their husbands’ reasoningrnfor the message. Our findings illuminate distress-maintaining and relationshipenhancingrnattribution biases for MILs’ behaviors, such that DILs who were lessrnsatisfied with their MILs tended to make more internal attributions for MIL hurtfulrnbehaviors, and more satisfied DILs tended to make more external attributions. Therndegree to which a DIL believed she and her husband interpreted his mother’s behaviorrnsimilarly was also important and positively predicted marital satisfaction. Findingsrnadd to the growing portrait of in-law communication, offering directions for hurtfulrnmessages and attribution theorizing in the in-law context.