Social change and intergenerational solidarity: Mother/daughter relationships in the second half of the twentieth century.

摘要

This study examines generational differences in mother/daughter relationships. As a result of changing opportunities and role expectations, especially with regard to education, work, and family, women's life course trajectories have shifted. Using the Longitudinal Study of Generations and Mental Health , this study seeks to gain greater understanding of the indirect impact social and structural changes have had on women's intergenerational solidarity. Using Bengtson's measures of solidarity, daughters' perceptions of associational, affectual, and consensual solidarity with their mothers is examined during both young adulthood and midlife.; Several generations of women from the same families are included, capturing the birth cohorts comprising the WWI Generation, the WWII Generation, the Baby Boom Generation, and Generation X. The perceptions of solidarity of the Generation X daughters as young adults in 1994 are compared with those of their mothers, the Baby Boom daughters as young adults in 1971. The perceptions of solidarity of the Baby Boom Generation daughters during midlife in 1994 are compared with those of their mothers, the World War II Generation daughters during midlife in 1971.; Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses are carried out to understand how daughter's perceptions of associational, affectual, and consensual solidarity with their mothers have changed over the last half of the century. Results show several significant differences between the generations of women, both during young adulthood and midlife. Perceptions of associational solidarity, aspects of affectual solidarity, and consensual solidarity also differed during young adulthood for the Generation X daughters in 1994 compared with the Baby Boom Generation daughters in 1971. During midlife, associational solidarity and aspects of affectual solidarity were significantly different for Baby Boom Generation daughters in 1994 compared with World War II Generation daughters in 1971. Furthermore, OLS regression indicates several significant findings pertaining to the effects of education, work, and family variables on perceptions of associational, affectual, and consensual solidarity for Generation X daughters and Baby Boom Generation daughters during young adulthood, as well as generational differences between the women from 1971 to 1994. This was also the case among the Baby Boom Generation daughters in 1994 and the World War II Generation daughters in 1971 during midlife.