Former In-Laws as a Source of Support

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between former in-laws after divorce. It was hypothesized that divorced persons who consider former affines as "relatives" will maintain higher levels of contact and utilize these persons as a source of support. In addition, two other independent variables were considered; the amount of contact with the in-law before divorce and approval of the divorce. The sample for this study consisted of 73 divorced parents; 29 men and 46 women, none of whom had been married to each other and resided in the southeastern part of the United States. The data was analyzed using step-wise multiple regression and suggest while frequency of contact with in-laws decreases after divorce, the relationship for some may still be a source of support, especially for and from female in-laws.