The relationship of mothers and daughters -in -law in urban Chinese families

This study explored the relationship of mother and daughter-in-law in Chinese families. Four research questions were asked. The first question asked how did the mother and daughter-in-law co-create their in-law relationship? The second question asked how did the dyad's interaction change at different family life stages? The third and fourth questions asked what were the participants' perceptions of their best as well as worst experiences in the mother and daughter-in-law relationship. The naturalistic inquiry research method was employed to explore the dyadic interaction in depth. In this study, 12 Chinese mothers and daughters-in-law dyads in Taiwan who lived together were interviewed separately. A total of 9 themes emerged from the interview transcripts.;The results showed that the mother and daughter-in-law relationship in current Taiwanese society is in transition, and seems still to be influenced by Chinese traditional family ethics. The dyadic relationship was found as a dynamic interaction process, and was affected by several critical family life events. There were 4 types of dyadic interaction patterns were found: the politely distant dyads, the mother-daughter like dyads, the good friend like dyads and the conflicted dyads. An extremely good dyadic interaction was the results of some special attitudes and extra efforts from both parties. The difficulties in the dyadic relationship were due to the different values between dyads as well as some mothers-in-law's unwelcome behaviors. The husband/son of the dyad played an important role in the dyadic relationship. The ideal picture of the dyadic relationship was that the dyad interacted like friends and to live nearby instead of living in the same household. The findings revealed that the mother and daughter-in-law dyadic interaction was not just a two-person interaction but was a co-creation of multiple sources, including the dyad themselves, the people surrounding the dyad as well as the traditional Chinese family ethics.