Conflict With Mothers-in-Law and Taiwanese Women’s Marital Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Husband Support

Abstract

This study applies social support theory to the question of whether four types of husband behavior (taking the wife’s side, problem solving, ignoring conflict, and taking the mother’s side) moderate the association between conflict with the mother-in-law and a Taiwanese woman’s marital satisfaction. Data were collected from 125 married Taiwanese women. The results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate a significant negative main effect of conflict with the mother-in-law on the wife’s marital satisfaction. This main effect is moderated by two types of husband behavior. When wives reported that their husbands frequently took their side or used problem-solving strategies to the conflict, conflict is not significantly related to the wives’ marital satisfaction. The conflict and the two types of husband behavior accounted for 32% to 38% of the variance in wives’ marital satisfaction.