[[alternative]]Effects of Norms of Daughter-in-law’s Roles, Family Support on Harmonious Relationship between Mother and Daughter-in-law

[[abstract]]This research aims to study the level of harmony in a mother-and-daughter-in-law relationship after female get married. This study uses stratified cluster convenience sampling. Samples are collected from the questionnaires responded by mothers of kindergarten, elementary, junior high and senior high school students in Taipei city, Taipei county, Kaohsiung city, Kaohsiung county, Tainan county and Chiayi county. Out of 2,339 copies of questionnaires distributed, 1,752 copies are collected and 1,257 of which are effective samples. The tools used in this research are: “Mother-and-Daughter-in-law harmonious relationship scale”, “Norms of individual roles scale”, “Support from the family of orientation scale”, “Spouse support scale” and “Demographic informations”. The result data was analyzed with SPSS11.5. Statistic methodology used includes: descriptive statistics, t-test, one way ANOVA, and multiple hierarchical regression. The analysis results are as follows: I. Current Status 1. Overall the mother-and-daughter-in-law relationship for married women is getting harmonious. 2. Married women keep in touch with their family of orientation better than with in-law’s family. 3. If married women live with the elder generation, they tend to live with their parents-in-law 4. The family of orientation provides lot of support for married women 5. Husbands’ supports to females are more in the form of material support instead of emotional support. Females have a high degree of satisfaction on their husbands’support. II. Analysis on norms of individual roles Of all norms of individual roles, females identify most with “respect for elder relatives and ancestors” and least with “oblige with authority and husband’s opinions”. Females who live with their in-laws oblige significantly more with norms of individual roles than other females, and there are no significant differences for married women in the interaction with family of orientation due to norms of individual roles. Females with university and above education, semi-professional or better occupation and those who have daughters only identify least with norms of individual roles compared with other females; Compared with females working full time and keeping less contact with their in-laws, homemakers, freelancers and females who keep frequent contact with their in-laws identify more with the norms comes with individual roles. III. Analysis on the support from family of orientation Females who live with in-laws obtain significantly less support in marriage and family life from their family of orientation compared with those who live independently; moreover, compared with other females with lower education level, who work part-time and have both sons and daughters, women who have higher education, work full time and have only daughters obtain more support from their family of orientation in child rearing. Compared with females who contact their family of orientation less or infrequently whether they live in the same city/county or not, women who have better contact with their family of orientation obtain more support from their family of orientation. IV. Analysis on spouse support Women who have less contact with in-laws obtain significantly less support from their husbands, and women who have frequent contact with their family of orientation obtain significantly more support from their husbands as compared with other women. However, husbands’ support to females differs with different genders of their children. V. How well the factors explain norms of individual roles Married women who have higher social economical status, have daughters only identify less with norms of individual roles. On the contrary, females who are homemakers,have more children, the older their youngest child is, and live with their in-laws are impacted more by norms of individual roles; women who have less contact with their in-laws are less restricted by norms of individual roles. The factor of social economical status can be used most to explain norms of individual roles. VI. How well the factors explain support from family of orientation The higher the social economical status of married women and the less contact they have with in-laws, the more support they obtain from the family of orientation; the less frequently they contact the family of orientation, the less support they gain. The factor of social economical status can be used most to explain the support from family of orientation. VII. How well the factors explain spouse support Married women with higher social economical status but have no jobs obtain most support from their husbands; compared with women who have sons only, women who have both sons and daughters obtain less support from their husbands. One result noteworthy is that the frequently women contact their in-laws, the more support their husbands would provide, the less frequently women contact their in-laws, the less support their husbands would provide. The factor of social economical status can be used most to explain the support from spouse. VIII. How well the factors explain mother-and-daughter-in- law’s harmonious relationship The more emotional and material support married women received from their husbands, the more child rearing support they obtain from the family of orientation, and the more they identify with the norm of “respecting elder relatives and ancestors”, the more harmonious the mother-and-daughter-in-law relationship will become. However, despite the norms of individual roles, keeping adequate contact with the in-laws will enable a better mother-and-daughter-in-law relationship. This research will base on the above results to provide recommendations to future researchers, females and family educators in planning family education programs.