Siblinghood-in-Law as a Dimension of Siblinghood from the Perspective of Later Life
Siblinghood-in-Law as a Dimension of Siblinghood from the Perspective of Later Life

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on siblinghood-in-law – a dimension of siblinghood revealed in qualitative research on siblinghood at age 50 and over, based on individual interviews and focus groups, realised in the Czech Republic. It introduces the interconnectedness between siblinghood and siblinghood-in-law, and pays particular attention to old age. A sibling-inlaw relationship is created in the context of a more complex relationality (where conjugal construction of reality plays an important role); in addition to the dyadic relationship of two siblings-in-law, or a triadic relationship mediated by the linchpin person, the siblingin-law relation to his/her siblings-in-law (even as individuals) may be primarily defined as a sibling-in-law relationship to a sibling group (generating itself its own definition of reality), possibly even to a larger kin. Late-life situations create a context to possibly intensify relations between the “remaining” siblings and siblings-in-law. The article concludes with a typology of sibling-in-law relationship patterns.

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