Relationship Dynamics Between Aging Mothers and Caregiving Daughters: Filial Expectations and Responsibilities

Using qualitative analysis, this research examined filial responsibility and the relationship dynamics between aging mothers and their caregiving daughters. In-depth interviews with 11 mother–daughter pairs explored respondents' sense of filial responsibility, filial expectations, the congruence between mothers' and daughters' expectations, and strategies used to negotiate incongruent expectations. Employing grounded theory, seven categorical themes emerged describing the daughters' perceptions and experiences of providing care. Themes were later linked to the mothers' responses concerning filial responsibility and their experiences of receiving care. Three approaches to caregiving emerged: undifferentiated, dispassionate, and mutually balanced. Findings from the present study have important implications for practitioners working with older adults and their family caregivers.     

Relationship of personal-social variables to belief in paternalism in parent caregiving situations

Paternalism in family caregiving may jeopardize the older persons' autonomy; it needs to be better understood. Study objectives were to determine the relationship of belief in paternalism to personal-social characteristics and to determine the relative importance of these variables as predictors of belief in paternalism. Forty-six pairs of daughters (age 49.7) and mothers (age 77.7) were measured on belief in paternalism, dogmatism, attitude toward elders, affective feelings toward the other, and background and caregiving variables. Among both mothers and daughters, dogmatism and attitude toward elders were related to belief in paternalism; daughters' affective feelings was also related. Caregiving variables were unrelated, and demographic background was important only for daughters. Attitude toward elders was the strongest predictor. Results were interpreted in terms of a traditional family ideology.     

Change in depressive symptoms among daughter caregivers: an 18-month longitudinal study.

This longitudinal study investigates, over an 18-month period, the caregiving experience of a probability sample of 115 daughters who provided care to an aging parent. The levels of depressive symptoms manifested by these daughters were relatively low, with only 23.5% scoring in the clinical range during the study. Nevertheless, there was substantive change in depressive symptoms among the daughters during the 18 months. Daughters with higher levels of mastery were more likely to use problem-focused coping strategies, which led to reductions in depression, whereas daughters with lower levels of mastery were more likely to use emotion-focused coping, which led to increased levels of depression. Mastery was higher when the caregiving role was shared with a sibling: it was lower if the daughter had other caregiving responsibilities and if the parent care recipient had elevated levels of behavior problems.     

Intergenerational effects of the Holocaust: patterns of engagement in the mother-daughter relationship

The present study explored the quality of engagement between mothers and adult daughters. Daughters of Holocaust survivors, European immigrants, and nonimmigrants were compared on mothers' protectiveness and care during their daughters' first 16 years, and on daughters' individuation from the family of origin. The survivor group perceived themselves as less individuated from both their parents than the other two groups. However, daughters in the three groups reported feeling equally intimate with their parents. There were no significant group differences found on intergenerational intimidation or competing loyalties. There was a tendency for mothers in the survivor group to be perceived as more indulgently protective. These findings suggest that the relationship between survivor mothers and their daughters may be characterized by a lower degree of individuation, though not at the cost of intimacy.     

Maternal influences on daughters' restrained eating behavior.

This study examined whether mothers' preoccupation with their own weight and eating was linked to daughters' restrained eating behavior. Participants included 173 non-Hispanic, White mother-daughter dyads, measured longitudinally when daughters were ages 5, 7, 9, and 11. Mothers who were preoccupied with their own weight and eating reported higher levels of restricting daughters' intake and encouraging daughters to lose weight over time. Mothers' encouragement of daughters' weight loss was linked to daughters' restrained eating behavior; this relationship was partially mediated by daughters' perception of maternal pressure to lose weight. These findings suggest that mothers' preoccupation with weight and eating, via attempts to influence daughters' weight and eating, may place daughters at risk for developing problematic eating behaviors.     

Birth order,sex of child,and maternal help-giving

As part of a larger study of birth order, sex of child, and mother—child interaction, mothers were asked to supervise their child's performance on memory and puzzle tasks. Subjects were 56 5-year-old boys and girls and their mothers, half with a same-sex older sibling, half with a same-sex younger sibling. Mothers showed no differences in spontaneous help-giving as a function of sex or birth order of child, but were more likely to give requested help and support to daughters than sons, and to respond contingently to daughters' mistakes. Implications of greater reinforced help-seeking for girls' orientations to achievement and problem-solving are considered.The work for this study was financed in part by Public Health Service Predoctoral Fellowship 5F1MH20, 971-02 and Special Fellowship 1-F03-HD-49722-01 from the National Institutes of Health. The authors wish to express gratitude for the assistance of Dan Eisenberg in performing data analysis.Portions of this paper were presented at meetings of the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco. 1974.     

Views on Aging: How Caring for an Aging Parent Influences Adult Daughters’ Perspectives on Later Life

Approximately 24 million Americans provide informal (unpaid) care to a family member or friend who is disabled or ill. The most common informal caregiving relationship is that of an adult child providing assistance to an elderly parent. Women in midlife represent most of the unpaid caregivers for older adults, yet little is known about how providing care affects women’s beliefs about and desires for their own aging. The purpose of this study was to understand how being a caregiver affected adult daughters’ perspectives on their own late life. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 15 women between the ages of 50 and 65 who were providing care to an ill and disabled parent or parent-in-law. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that caregivers were affected by the caregiving experience in five ways: gaining awareness, provoking fears, providing a comparison for current functioning, providing firsthand knowledge about aging, and providing an example of how to age. This study offers an alternative perspective on the well-documented negative consequences of caring for an older person, suggesting that caregiving encourages personal growth for adult daughters in midlife.     

The relationship between mothers' and daughters' sex-role attitudes and self-concepts in three types of family environment

Assuming that mothers are significant others in daughters' socialization, this study was conducted to determine if significant relationships exist between mothers and daughters regarding sex-role attitudes and self-concepts. Three types of families were sampled: those where the mother was a full-time homemaker, those where she was employed because of economic necessity, and those where she was employed for personal and professional fulfillment. The results indicated significant relationships between mothers' and daughters' attitudes toward marriage, children, and careers, but not self-concepts. Differences were also found between the three groups of mothers and daughters. Mothers who are involved in careers that are personally salient differ from mothers who are employed because of economic necessity and mothers who are full-time homemakers.     

Family Members' Retrospective Perceptions of Intrafamilial Relationships

Parents and daughters in 21 families of women with borderline personality disorder (BPD), 23 women with restricting anorexia nervosa (AN), and 25 women without clinical histories (NC) responded to the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and the Beavers Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI). On the PBI, BPD daughters' perceptions differed from both their parents' whereas AN daughters' perceptions differed from their mothers'. On the SFI, both groups reported less family health than their parents. On both instruments, nonclinical daughters' perceptions were congruent with the parents'. These findings have implications for researchers and therapists for integrating and utilizing the varying perceptions of family members.     

A comparison of the perceptions of the mother-daughter relationship of black pregnant and nonpregnant teenagers.

This study examined the relationship between mothers and their teenage daughters in order to determine if there was a significant difference in perceived relationships between pregnant and nonpregnant mother-daughter dyads in a predominantly black sample. Results indicated that the nonpregnant daughters and their mothers felt significantly more intimacy toward each other than did the pregnant daughters and their mothers. However, correlations of the mother and daughter scores revealed that the intimacy scores of the mothers of the pregnant daughters were positively correlated with their daughters' attachment scores, suggesting that the mothers and their pregnant daughters were more in agreement regarding their relationship than were the nonpregnant mother-daughter pairs.     

Body Dissatisfaction in College Women and Their Mothers: Cohort Effects, Developmental Effects, and the Influences of Body Size, Sexism, and the Thin Body Ideal

A study of body dissatisfaction, as measured by the Figure Rating Scale (Stunkard, Sorenson, & Schlusinger, 1983) and the Body Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984), in 75 college women and their mothers indicated that both daughters and mothers experienced body dissatisfaction. When body size was statistically controlled, either no difference was found between the groups or daughters were found to have greater body dissatisfaction than mothers. The results supported the hypotheses that (1) there are generational differences in body dissatisfaction, (2) both cohort and developmental effects contribute to these differences, and (3) that a developmental effect (mothers' greater body size) may obscure a cohort effect (daughters' greater exposure to the thin body ideal). Body dissatisfaction measures based on the mothers' retrospective ratings of how they felt at their daughters' age were consistent with these hypotheses. Relationships between body dissatisfaction and the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995) were stronger and more frequent for daughters than for mothers and for the Internalization Scale than for the Awareness Scale. Relationships between the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 2001) and body dissatisfaction were stronger for mothers than for daughters and for Benevolent Sexism than for Hostile Sexism.     

Socially induced delayed reproduction in female Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus): is there anything special about dominant females?

In 4 experiments, the authors explored effects of interaction with both sexually active adult female and unfamiliar adult male Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) on young female gerbils' ages at first parturition. Presence of a natural mother retarded development of her daughters. However, presence of a natural mother had no greater effect on her daughters' development than did presence of any other familiar animal, either male or female. Further, exposing young female gerbils to an unfamiliar male accelerated their development even when their reproductively active mothers were present. The data indicate that maintaining young female gerbils in stable family groups results in both inhibition of sexual maturation (caused by exposure to familiar individuals) and failure to activate sexual development (caused by lack of exposure to unfamiliar males).     

Breadwinner and caregiver: A cross‐sectional analysis of children's and emerging adults’ visions of their future family roles

Participants were 150 school‐age boys and girls, 58 high school students, and 145 university students drawn from communities in the Southeastern United States. In this cross‐sectional study, family role attitudes and expectations were examined across development. Parental work traditionality (occupational prestige and traditionality, and employed hours) predicted daughters’ social role attitudes and plans for future family roles, such that daughters’ envisioned families resembled that of their parents. Sons’ and daughters’ own attitudes about adult family roles predicted their plans to work or stay home with their future children; however, mothers’ work traditionality predicted daughters’ future plans over and above daughters’ own attitudes. The only exception to this was in the case of university daughters, where university women's attitudes about social roles fully mediated this relationship. It may be that, as young women approach adulthood and the formation of families, they adjust their vision of their future self to match more closely their own attitudes about the caregiving role.     

Involving caregiving grandmothers in family interventions when mothers with substance use problems are incarcerated

The alarming rate of incarceration of women disproportionately affects women of color, frequently intersects with the women's substance use problems, and often results in grandmothers providing care for their grandchildren during their daughters' incarceration. Numerous factors complicate the grandmothers' caregiving experiences and contribute to strains that exceed those typically associated with grandparent caregiving. Such complicating factors include the stresses associated with their daughters' substance use problems and incarceration; the complex biopsychosocial needs of many of their grandchildren; the challenging relational issues they must address; and often, the long-term, multifaceted effects of poverty. Despite the critical roles they play, the multiple vulnerabilities they face, and the potential for multigenerational, culturally relevant family interventions to yield gains for all three generations, grandmothers have received little attention in intervention research with this group of families. This paper provides a theoretical and empirical rationale for the inclusion of caregiving grandmothers in interventions and research with families affected by maternal incarceration and substance use problems, in general, and for the promise of multifamily groups, in particular. Strategies for tailoring multifamily groups with this population of families are also included.     

Gender role attitudes of American mothers and daughters over time

Symbolic interaction theorists believe that parents are primary socializing agents for their children. J. Rollins and P. N. White (1982) found that mothers and early adolescent daughters in traditional, dual-work, and dual-career family environments held similar attitudes about marriage, children, and careers. In a follow-up study, 40 mother-daughter dyads of the original 75 were surveyed. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant differences between the attitudes of these 40 mothers and 40 daughters regarding the 3 variables. However, both the mothers' and daughters' attitudes differed from Time 1 to Time 2. The findings lend further support for the concept of mothers as primary socializing agents for daughters and for the self-in-relation model regarding mothers and daughters.     

African American mother-daughter communication about sex and daughters' sexual behavior: does college racial composition make a difference?

This study examined the influence of African American mothers' communication about sexual topics on the sexual attitudes and behavior of their college-enrolled daughters. Daughters were enrolled at a historically Black college/university (HBCU) or a predominantly White institution (PWI) to assess whether and how college racial context might affect daughters' sexual attitudes and behavior. Findings indicated that daughters at the HBCU had less permissive attitudes about premarital sex than their counterparts at the PWI. This result was especially true for daughters of mothers with more conservative attitudes about premarital sex and who discussed such topics infrequently. Last, the combination of positive mother-daughter communication and fewer discussions about sexual topics resulted in lower levels of sexual experience among the daughters.     

PERCEIVED FREQUENCY OF ROLE CONFLICT AND RELATIONSHIP QUALITY FOR CAREGIVING DAUGHTERS

A role-conflict approach was employed to explore the impact of perceived frequency of conflict between caregiving and other obligations on the quality of relationships between daughters and their care-receiving mothers. Frequency of conflict between caregiving and responsibilities as a wife, mother, and paid and unpaid worker was assessed. Daughters reported relatively infrequent conflict between caregiving and other obligations. A multiple regression analysis revealed that daughters who reported frequent conflict between their obligations as caregivers and their obligations as wives had poorer relationships with their mothers. The findings emphasize the importance of a supportive spouse for married caregivers.     

Biased processing of emotional information in girls at risk for depression

Researchers have documented that children of depressed mothers are at elevated risk for developing a depressive disorder themselves. There is currently little understanding, however, of what factors place these children at elevated risk. In the present study, the authors investigated whether never-disordered daughters whose mothers have experienced recurrent episodes of depression during their daughters' lifetime are characterized by biased processing of emotional information. Following a negative mood induction, participants completed an emotional-faces dot-probe task. Daughters at elevated risk for depression, but not control daughters of never-disordered mothers, selectively attended to negative facial expressions. In contrast, only control daughters selectively attended to positive facial expressions. These results provide support for cognitive vulnerability models of depression.     

Negative interpretation bias as a mechanism of the relationship between rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms

Rejection sensitivity and negative cognitive biases have been identified as important risk factors for depression. Rejection sensitivity is defined as the tendency to anxiously anticipate, easily perceive, and overreact to rejection. Although prior studies have found an association between one component of rejection sensitivity, the tendency to anxiously anticipate rejection, and depression, little is known about the mechanisms through which anxious anticipation of rejection might confer depression risk. One possibility is that rejection anticipation leads to negatively biased interpretations, a cognitive risk factor for depression. Results from two studies (one cross-sectional, one longitudinal) indicate that negative interpretation biases mediate the association between the anxious anticipation of rejection and depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that interpretation biases represent a mechanism through which anxious anticipation of rejection confers risk for depression, and suggest that interventions designed to challenge negative interpretations may help to decrease depression risk among individuals who anticipate rejection.     

Mother and daughter perceptions of their relationship: the influence of adolescent pregnancy status

This investigation focused on the perceived relationships between 95 mothers and their adolescent daughters. It sought to determine if there was a significant difference in the mother-daughter relationship as perceived by pregnant versus nonpregnant adolescents, and whether the mothers of these two groups, when compared to each other, differed in their feelings for their daughters. In contrast to other investigations, no striking differences between the groups in intimacy, attachment, and strength of feeling as indicated by a questionnaire were found, though results were generally in the predicted direction. Nevertheless, a strong correlation between daughters' and mothers' answers was found, indicating an overall positive perception by both toward their relationship.