Parent-in-law#Fathers-in-law

File:Guerre contre le Paraguay - L'Emperur de Brésil et seus deux gendres, le Duc de Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha et le Comte D'Eu, au camp D'Alegrete (D'après un dessin de M. Maximo Alvès).jpg (seated) with his two sons-in-law Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Prince Gaston of Orléans during the Paraguayan War, 1865]]

A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person is a child-in-law to the parents of the spouse, who are in turn also the parents of those sibling-in-laws (if any) who are siblings of the spouse (as opposed to spouses of siblings). Together, the members of this family affinity group are called the in-laws.{{cite web | url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in-laws | title=in-law | publisher=Merriam-Webster | access-date=12 September 2014}}

Fathers-in-law

A father-in-law is the father of a person's spouse.{{cite web | url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/father-in-law | title=father-in-law | publisher=Merriam-Webster | access-date=12 September 2014}} Two men who are fathers-in-law to each other's children may be called co-fathers-in-law, or, if there are grandchildren, co-grandfathers.

Mothers-in-law

A mother-in-law is the mother of a person's spouse.{{cite web | url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mother-in-law?show=0&t=1410578989 | title=mother-in-law | publisher=Merriam-Webster | access-date=12 September 2014}} Two women who are mothers-in-law to each other's children may be called co-mothers-in-law, or, if there are grandchildren, co-grandmothers.

In comedy and in popular culture, the mother-in-law is stereotyped as bossy, unfriendly, hostile, nosy, overbearing and generally unpleasant. They are often depicted as the bane of the husband, who is married to the mother-in-law's daughter. A mother-in-law joke is a joke that lampoons the obnoxious mother-in-law character.

Some Australian Aboriginal languages use avoidance speech, so-called "mother-in-law languages", special sub-languages used when in hearing distance of taboo relatives, most commonly the mother-in-law.

A mother-in-law suite is also a type of dwelling, usually guest accommodations within a family home that may be used for members of the extended family.

Parent-in-law relationships

Parent-in-laws are often viewed as either a source of conflict or a source of support in a marriage relationship. Jealousy, competition, differences, and disillusioned expectations can cause conflict to arise in these relationships. The perception of parent-in-laws as negative influences on your marriage leads to the characterization of female in-laws as particularly difficult. The stereotyped mother-in-law joke finds humor in the reality of conflict with in-laws. Positive influences have also been noted as in-laws can be a found family for partners/child-in-laws who are not as close to their own family.{{Cite journal |last=Silverstein |first=Judith L. |date=1992 |title=The problem with in-laws |url=https://doi.org/10.1046/j..1992.00469.x |journal=Journal of Family Therapy |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=399–412 |doi=10.1046/j..1992.00469.x |via=Wiley Online Library|url-access=subscription }}

People believe that negative relationships with in-laws will have a disastrous effect on the future of their marriage.{{Cite journal |last=Bryant |first=Chalandra M. |date=2001 |title=The Influence of In-Laws on Change in Marital Success |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3654637 |journal=Journal of Marriage and Family |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=614–626 |doi=10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00614.x |jstor=3654637|url-access=subscription }} However, the amount of connection to parent-in-laws has not been found to influence the success of their children's marriage. The lack of marriage success may not fall on conflict in the parent-in-law relationship, but on whether the children-in-law are on the same page about conflicts. Thus, discordant perceptions exist between spouses and their perceptions of their relationships with their in-laws, and it is disagreements on those connections that negatively affect marriage outcomes.{{Cite journal |last1=Fiori |first1=Katherine L. |last2=Rauer |first2=Amy J. |last3=Birditt |first3=Kira S. |last4=Brown |first4=Edna |last5=Orbuch |first5=Terri L. |date=2021 |title=You Aren't as Close to my Family as You Think: Discordant Perceptions about In-laws and Risk of Divorce |journal=Research in Human Development |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=258–273 |doi=10.1080/15427609.2021.1874792 |issn=1542-7609 |pmc=8133523 |pmid=34025298}}