Les was right...we DO fight more with mothers-in-law

THE late comedian Les Dawson made a career out of jokes at his mother-in-law’s expense, including one memorable wisecrack that he was upset about her funeral because ‘she’s cancelled it’.

However, it turns out that he may have been on to something.

A study has revealed that people really are more likely to have friction with their partner’s mother than with their own mum.

Researchers in America found the most common reasons for a row with mothers-in-law were about money or criticism of how their grandchildren were being brought up. The scientists believe people may be unconsciously biased in favour of their own mothers due to a ‘genetic conflict’ that makes them act unconsciously in the interests of their own kin.

The study found that both men and women had ‘more conflict with their mothers-in-law than their mothers, and mothers indicated having more conflict with their daughters-inlaw than their daughters’. However, the team from Arizona State University also found that fathers were more likely to have friction with their own daughters than a new daughter-in-law – possibly because protective dads are judgmental about their ‘affinal son’ – the man their daughter chooses as her partner.

The authors of the research, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science, said: ‘We would predict this conflict between fathers and biological daughters is highest when the daughter enters a new romantic relationship and lessens over time if the father believes his affinal son strengthens the coalition.’

Researchers recruited 308 people and asked them to score how much conflict they had with family members. While the stereotype is for men to have trouble with their mothers-in-law, a previous study found it was women who are more likely to clash with their partner’s mum. Dr Terri Apter, a psychologist at Cambridge University, spent 20 years interviewing hundreds of families and found that while 75 per cent of couples reported problems with an in-law, only 15 per cent of relationships between mothers-in-law and their sons-inlaw were described as tense versus more than 60 per cent for mothersin-law and their daughters-in-law.

Dawson, left, who died at 62 in 1993, was renowned for making fun at his mother-in-law’s expense with gags including ‘My mother-in-law said: “One day I’ll dance on your grave.” I said: “I hope you do – I’m going to be buried at sea”’ and ‘I can always tell when the motherin-law’s coming to stay – the mice throw themselves on the traps.’