Situated address and the social construction of “in‐law” relationships

Abstract

This study examined address practices between young American couples and their parents‐in‐law in the transitional period of early marriage. Couples’ self‐reports of their preferred modes of address toward mother‐ and father‐in‐law, and the rationales for their choices were analyzed. Four themes were identified as key in guiding and constraining the selection of address forms: social conventions requiring a show of respect toward parents‐in‐law as weighed against pressures toward the expression of intimacy; loyalty to one's biological parents; situational cues; and the desire to publicly mark the event of marriage as a significant transition. The findings are taken as evidence for the salience of naming and address behavior in the construction of family relationship definitions.