Lau, Chui-Mei, CatherineChui-Mei, CatherineLau2012-10-112012-10-112012http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11861/854Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.) -- Hong Kong Shue Yan University, 2012.Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-104).vii, 109 p.The mother-in-law (MIL) and daughter-in-law (DIL) relationship is deemed as a difficult relationship in which conflicts often appear and which may ruin the marital relationship. This research tries to find out the underlying elements that would affect the conflict resolution styles of the newly married couple before and after the marriage. In addition, another focus of this study is to explore whether couples who had received pre-marital counseling would be helped by this counseling to resolve the conflicts between MIL and DIL effectively. A qualitative method was adopted and twelve couples who were married for not more than three years were recruited to join the semi-structured interviews to collect their stories in resolving the conflict between DIL and MIL before and after marriage. <br> Results showed that couples who had the experience of studying abroad and working in a management position would prefer to be much more competitive than couples who studied locally, as they valued the efficiency and effectiveness in resolving the conflicts, they seldom take emotions or the relationship difficulties into consideration. Besides, the MIL and DIL relationship is not inevitably problematic as DIL who reportedly had cohabitation with MIL before marriage or had plenty of chances to be with MIL were having good relationship with MIL, as they had many chances to observe how MIL interacted with others and practiced what kind of actions were appropriate. Meanwhile, the husband was the most critical one who would influence the in-laws relationship as he was the one who would translate and transmit the message to one another, as indirect communication is always used in the in-laws relationship.engFamilies.Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law.Mothers and daughters Psychology.Thesis