Abstract: The purpose of current study was to determine causes of the conflict between mother and daughter-in-law, as well as to investigate factors (e.g., education background, residence and income level) that may have influenced their responses. 150 mothers-in-law and 156 daughters-in-law participated in investigate. A sequential mixed-methods analysis was conducted including qualitative analysis, constant comparison analysis, descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and ANOVA. The results revealed that the main factors affecting the causes of the conflict: 1) scrambling for power and resource (89.1%), 2) differences in attitude and behavior (83.2%), 3) distinctions between zijiren and wairen (64.4%). In addition, role of mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, residence, income level, education background, and status in family affected participants’ responses. The relation between mother and daughter-in-law is a main kind of family relation. To verify causes of the conflict between mother and daughter-in-law makes an instructive contribution to promote family and social harmony.

Key words: the conflict between mother and daughter-in-law, a sequential mixed-methods analysis, scrambling for power and resource, differences in perspective and behavior, distinctions between zijiren and wairen

摘要： 为探明引发婆媳冲突的主要成因, 调查了150名婆婆和156名儿媳, 要求她们写出最有可能导致婆媳冲突的5个主要原因, 并按重要程度排序。通过质性分析、描述性统计、相关分析、探索性因素分析和方差检验等一系列的混合方法分析, 发现争夺权力和资源(89.1%)、观念和行为差异(83.2%)、“自己人”和“外人”的区分(64.4%)是导致婆媳冲突最主要的原因。同时, 婆媳角色、住地、经济状况、受教育程度和家庭地位会影响她们对婆媳冲突成因的看法。探明当代中国引发婆媳冲突的主要因素, 对构建和谐家庭、和谐社会具有指导意义。

关键词: 婆媳冲突, 混合方法研究, 争夺权力和资源, 观念和行为差异, “自己人”和“外人”的区分