A Scoping Review of In-Law Abuse

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.