Two-thirds of all divorces occur under the direct influence of parents of spouses and, in particular, mothers-in-law. This is the conclusion reached by the researchers who surveyed more than two thousand divorced Britons.
British sociologists have found that the relatives’ influence largely determines the husband’s or wife’s decision to divorce. The strongest influence is performed by mothers who have equally effective impact on both their sons and daughters. At the same time, 6% of the respondents said that their children’s feelings had also played a role in the divorce.
However, when it comes to the most popular reasons for divorce, the two-thirds of the cases in this matter involve mothers-in-law. 10% of the respondents said that their decision to divorce was affected by siblings. The most frequent cause of divorce is the desire of the relatives to show how far apart the spouses are from each other and how great a mismatch they are.
The husband’s mother criticizes her daughter-in-law, and the wife’s mother, on the other hand, does not spare dark colors to portray the son-in-law whom her daughter has chosen. However, 67% of the respondents expressed their joy over the fact that their relatives helped them to see they were unhappy in the marriage. Most of the respondents said that their former spouse’s relatives had a very great, if not decisive, influence on their family relationship; 44% of the respondents admitted that they had not been able to get along with the former spouse’s relatives.
74% complained that their former spouses listened to their mother more than to their partner. A quarter of the respondents felt completely neglected by their mothers-in-law.
