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Purpose <p>In-law abuse is a pervasive social problem with devastating physical, psychological, health, and social consequences. Despite its adverse effects, this form of violence has not received adequate scholarly attention; consequently, literature on it remains scarce. This scoping review aims to synthesise existing empirical findings on the prevalence, forms and victim-based classification of in-law abuse, drivers, consequences, and geographic coverage of studies on in-law abuse, as well as to identify gaps in the literature to guide future research.</p> Methods <p>A comprehensive search for empirical, peer-reviewed studies was conducted across six databases: ProQuest, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Sabinet. A total of 14 empirical, peer-reviewed studies were included in the review, highlighting the scarcity of research on this topic.</p> Results <p>The findings reveal that while the phenomenon of in-law abuse can be found in India, Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique, most studies are concentrated in South Asia, particularly in India. Evidence indicates that abuse against daughters-in-law is largely driven by socio-cultural and psychological factors, while research on risk factors for abuse against in-laws by daughters-in-law remains limited. Furthermore, although the review identified various types of in-law abuse, such as abuse of daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and son-in-law, the literature predominantly focuses on abuse perpetrated by mothers-in-law against daughters-in-law.</p> Conclusions <p>The extant evidence base on in-law abuse is geographically concentrated in South Asia. While existing findings highlight the importance of socio-cultural factors, the phenomenon remains underexplored in the Global North, contributing to its relative absence from dominant family violence frameworks.</p>

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A Scoping Review of In-Law Abuse

  • 期刊论文

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月11日

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  • Lanre Abdul-Rasheed Sulaiman

摘要

Purpose

In-law abuse is a pervasive social problem with devastating physical, psychological, health, and social consequences. Despite its adverse effects, this form of violence has not received adequate scholarly attention; consequently, literature on it remains scarce. This scoping review aims to synthesise existing empirical findings on the prevalence, forms and victim-based classification of in-law abuse, drivers, consequences, and geographic coverage of studies on in-law abuse, as well as to identify gaps in the literature to guide future research.

Methods

A comprehensive search for empirical, peer-reviewed studies was conducted across six databases: ProQuest, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Sabinet. A total of 14 empirical, peer-reviewed studies were included in the review, highlighting the scarcity of research on this topic.

Results

The findings reveal that while the phenomenon of in-law abuse can be found in India, Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique, most studies are concentrated in South Asia, particularly in India. Evidence indicates that abuse against daughters-in-law is largely driven by socio-cultural and psychological factors, while research on risk factors for abuse against in-laws by daughters-in-law remains limited. Furthermore, although the review identified various types of in-law abuse, such as abuse of daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and son-in-law, the literature predominantly focuses on abuse perpetrated by mothers-in-law against daughters-in-law.

Conclusions

The extant evidence base on in-law abuse is geographically concentrated in South Asia. While existing findings highlight the importance of socio-cultural factors, the phenomenon remains underexplored in the Global North, contributing to its relative absence from dominant family violence frameworks.