| Abstract: | This study prospectively examines the association between discord with in‐laws and the long‐term relationship success of husbands and wives who had been married for an average of almost 2 decades. We hypothesized that the quality of spouses' relationships with their parents‐in‐law would predict spouses' marital success. In addition, this study underscores the causal role of in‐laws by examining the influence of marital success on relationships with in‐laws. For wives, discord with mothers‐ and fathers‐in‐law predicted own perceptions of marital success at a later time period. Results were slightly different for husbands' discord with fathers‐in‐law. The reverse (marital success predicting less discord with in‐laws) was only true for husbands. The study also explored the influence of spouses' discord with in‐laws on partners' perceptions of marital success. These are among the first prospective, longitudinal findings demonstrating that, even in long‐term marriages, conflicts in extended family relations will erode marital stability, satisfaction, and commitment over time. |
