Relationship with partner's parents and quality of marriage

Još devedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća, Obradović, Lukinac, Radman i Šiško (1992) su utvrdili da na bračnu kvalitetu utječe odnos s partnerovim roditeljima. Međutim, iako odnosi s roditeljima bračnih partnera igraju vrlo značajnu ulogu u životima pojedinaca i obitelji, istraživačima u prošlosti nisu bili često predmetom istraživanja (Fingerman, Giligan, VanderDrift i Pitzer, 2012). S obzirom da još uvijek ne postoji mjerni instrument za ispitivanje snahine ili zetove percepcije kvalitete odnosa s partnerovim roditeljima, glavni cilj ovog istraživanja je bio konstrukcija i validacija iste. Također, dodatni ciljevi istraživanja su bili provjeriti hoće li kvaliteta odnosa s partnerovim roditeljima biti prediktivna za bračnu kvalitetu, zatim u kakvom su odnosu kvaliteta braka i percepcija kvalitete odnosa s partnerovim roditeljima. Kao posljednji cilj istraživanja nastojalo se utvrditi zasebne doprinose faktora dobi, trajanja braka, broja djece i zadovoljstva odnosom s partnerom u objašnjenju varijance percepcije kvalitete braka. U istraživanju su sudjelovale 403 žene prosječne dobi 30 godina, koje su ispunile Upitnik općih podataka, tri subskale iz Upitnika percepcije kvalitete bračnog odnosa i novokonstruiranu Skalu percepcije kvalitete odnosa s partnerovim roditeljima. Konfirmatornom faktorskom analizom je potvrđena dvofaktorska struktura Skale percepcije kvalitete odnosa sa svekrvom i trofaktorska struktura Skale percepcije kvalitete odnosa sa svekrom. Rezultati su pokazali da što snahe imaju negativnije, ali i pozitivnije aspekte odnosa sa svekrvom to će procjenjivati nižim zadovoljstvo brakom, kvalitetu komunikacije s partnerom i veće nezadovoljstvo u odnosima s rodbinom. Komunikacija u braku, zadovoljstvo brakom i odnosi s rodbinom će biti lošiji što snaha više percipira da se svekar miješa u razna područja bračnog života, što je pozitivnije naklonjen odnosu prema braku između sina i snahe te što je svekar brižniji i s pomagačkim namjerama. Nadalje, što je više i pozitivnih i negativnih aspekata odnosa sa svekrvom to će biti lošiji odnosi snahe sa suprugovom rodbinom. Zadovoljstvo brakom će biti niže što je više pozitivnih aspekata u odnosu sa svekrvom. Odnosi sa svekrom nisu se pokazali značajnim prediktorom kvalitete braka. Nadalje, veće zadovoljstvo odnosom s partnerom pozitivno je korespondiralo i s većom kvalitetom braka. Dob i broj djece nisu se pokazali značajnim prediktorima kvalitete braka, međutim ipak je dobiveno da žene koje imaju djecu (bez obzira na broj djece) procjenjuju nižim zadovoljstvo brakom.In the nineties of the last century, Obradovic, Lukinac, Radman and Šiško (1992) found that the relationship with partner's parents influences marital quality. However, although relationships with in-law's play a very important role in the lives of individuals and families, they have not been in the focus of the researchers in the past very often (Fingerman, Giligan, VanderDrift and Pitzer, 2012). Considering that there is no scale neither in the world nor in Croatia that would question daughter's in-law's or son's-in-law perception of the quality of relationship with in-law's, the main purpose of this research was the construction and validation of the scale . Also, the aim of the study was to examine whether the quality of relationship with partner's parents is predictive for marital quality, then investigate the relatioship between quality of marriage and perception of the quality of relationship with in-law's. The last aim of the research was to determine the separate contributions of the age, the number of children and the satisfaction with relationship with partner in explaining the variance of marriage quality. Research was conducted on 403 female participants avarage age 30 years. Then, scales used in the study were General information questionnaire, three subscales from the Questionnaire of the perception of marital quality relations and newly constructed Scale of perception of the quality of relationship with partner's parents. Confirmatory factor analyses has confirmed two-factor model of Scale of perception of the quality of relationship with mother-in-law and three-factor model of Scale of perception of the quality of relationship with father-in-law. The results have demonstrated that having more negative, but also having more positive aspects of relationship with mother-in-law, satisfaction with marriage, the quality of communication with the partner and quality of relationship with relatives will be lower. Communication in marriage, marriage satisfaction and relations with relatives are worse what daughter-in-law more perceives that father-in-law is interffering in various areas of marital life, what father-in-law is caring and has intention of helping and what father-in-law is more well-disposed to marriage between his son and daughter-in-law. Furthermore, the more positive and negative aspects of the relationship with the mother-in-law are, relationship between dauhter-in-law and her husband's relatives will be worse. Satisfaction in marriage will be lower if there are more positive aspects of the relationship with the mother-in-law. Relationships with father-in-law were not significant predictor of quality of marriage. As well, the higher satisfaction with relationship with partner means higher quality of marriage. Age and number of children were not identified as significant predictors of quality of marriage, but if couples have children (no matter how many) their satisfaction with marriage is lower