Adult daughters of divorce : relationships among mother-daughter dynamics and daughter views toward and exploration strategies of marriage

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Rebecca Lee Withrow (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
L. DiAnne Borders

Abstract: "Daughters of divorce are at higher risk of getting divorced than sons of divorce. Researchers have found that positive relationships between adult offspring of divorce (AOD) and their parents buffer AOD from some long-term effects of parental divorce. This study explored the relationships among several mother-daughter relationship variables, and grown daughters' approaches toward (attitudes toward and exploration strategies of) marriage in the post-divorce family. Correlational analyses were used to assess significant relationships among the independent variables (mother-daughter connection, mother-daughter psychological separation, and mother-to-daughter disclosure) and the dependent variables (daughters' attitudes toward marriage and use of exploration strategies in the realm of marriage). Multiple regression analyses were used to determine which of the predictor variables best predicted the dependent variables. One-way ANOVAs were used to determine whether any of the variables differed according to race, mother's level of educational attainment, or the number of times the mother had divorced and remarried. Psychological separation and mother-to-daughter disclosures contributed more than anything else to daughters' use of exploration strategies in the realm of marriage, in the opposite direction from that expected. The less psychological separation there was between mothers and daughters, and the more depth in which mothers disclosed to daughters about divorce related topics, the more daughters reported using various exploration strategies in the realm of marriage. However, none of the relationships were clinically significant. None of the variables were predictive of daughters' attitudes about marriage. Analyses also revealed that various elements of mother-daughter psychological separation correlated differently with mother-daughter connection. None of the variables differed according to ethnicity or the number of maternal marital transitions. More educated mothers tended to offer their daughters more support. The findings from the current study underscore the importance of studying risk and resiliency factors for daughters in the post-divorce family and process variables like exploration strategies in the realm of marriage, in addition to marital outcome variables. These findings also add to a small body of research on ethnic similarities among adult offspring of divorce."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2006
Keywords
Daughters, Divorce, risk, adult offspring, Psychological separation
Subjects
Adult children of divorced parents
Mothers and daughters
Divorce--Psychological aspects

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