Mother-daughter Bond Research Articles

A prospective study of isolation and mortality in a cohort of elderly Navajo Indians

The prospective association between social isolation and mortality in a sample of 271 elderly Navajo Indian men and women living on their reservation in northern Arizona is reported. The follow-up period averaged three years from the time of interview in 1982-3. Self-reported level of physical functioning was predictive of mortality. Of the psycho-social measures, only marital status among men was predictive of increased risk of death, with the unmarried being at higher risk than the married. These results are attributed to the fact that Navajo society is traditionally matrilineal and matrilocal, with the mother-daughter bond being especially significant and with men being relatively more peripheral than their wives to the kin group. Thus unmarried men are far more likely to be isolated from kin than unmarried women and married people of either sex.

Mothers and Mothers-in-Law

This study indicates how a shift in the structure of kinship networks can create changes in both the content and valence of kinship relationships. The study compares the motherdaughter and the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships, and the shift in their kin network consists of the birth of the daughter(-in-law)'s child. Findings from an exploratory research project, based on family case studies, suggest that orientation toward the child changes these relationships in different ways along three dimensions: interactive involvement, interpersonal boundaries, and relational strain. The orientation around the child appears to clarify the interpersonal boundaries between daughter and mother by shifting the mother's maternal role onto the daughter's child. But the birth of the child creates greater ambiguity in the quasi-kin, quasi-maternal relationship between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. Thus, the child seems to bring more relational strain to the in-law relationship and less strain to the mother-daughter bond.

Recognition and treatment of incestuous families

Incest is a major mental health problem, in terms of both prevalence and morbidity. Father-daughter incest constitutes the majority of reported cases. The possibility of incest should be considered in a family which includes a violent father, a disabled mother, a child in an adult maternal role, or an “acting out” adolescent girl. Intervention requires recognition of the criminal and addictive aspects of the father's behavior. Active cooperation between mental health professionals and mandated child protective and law enforcement agencies is necessary for effective treatment. Group therapy and affiliated self-help programs appear to be the treatment modality of choice. Rehabilitation of the family is based upon restoration of the mother-daughter bond as a guarantee of safety for the child.

Transitions in the Mother-Daughter Relationship

and questionnaires were administered to the daughters, mothers, and other family members. Two dimensions of the mother-daughter bond are examined: symbolic and interactional. The findings indicate that when daughters become mothers, mothers and daughters tend to reevaluate each other and become more involved in each others' lives. This paper suggests that change in the mother-daughter bond entails a process of redefinition and renegotiation in terms of their relative statuses, their role perspectives, and their family structure.

(E)Merging Identities: The Dynamics of Female Friendship in Contemporary Fiction by Women

Previous articleNext article No Access(E)Merging Identities: The Dynamics of Female Friendship in Contemporary Fiction by WomenElizabeth AbelElizabeth Abel Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 6, Number 3Spring, 1981 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/493815 Views: 89Total views on this site Citations: 18Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1981 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Kristi Branham, Kelly L. Reames Introduction: Navigating Women’s Friendships into the Twenty-First Century, (Nov 2022): 1–12.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08003-6_1Indrani Karmakar Of Women’s Bonds: Female Friendship and Feminist Ethics of Care in Tabish Khair’s Just Another Jihadi Jane, Wasafiri 36, no.33 (Aug 2021): 51–58.https://doi.org/10.1080/02690055.2021.1918437Eleanore Gardner The Fearful Transience of Identity: Analyzing the Gothic Antiheroine in Claire Messud’s the Woman Upstairs and Lauren Acampora’s the Paper Wasp, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 62, no.11 (Jun 2020): 16–29.https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2020.1779022Judith Kegan Gardiner Mind mother: psychoanalysis and feminism, (Jul 2020): 113–145.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003071044-5Bonnie Zimmerman What has never been: an overview of lesbian feminist criticism, (Jul 2020): 177–210.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003071044-7Érik Martiny « I am hiding from my father/ On the roof of Joyce's tower » : le père et le précurseur littéraire chez Sharon Olds et Paul Durcan, Études anglaises Vol. 65, no.44 (Dec 2012): 467–479.https://doi.org/10.3917/etan.654.0467 Hyungji Park “Staying on”: Abortion and Narrative Silence in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s Heat and Dust, Feminist Studies in English Literature 18, no.22 (Dec 2010): 31–56.https://doi.org/10.15796/fsel.2010.18.2.002 What has never been: an overview of lesbian feminist criticism, (Sep 2003): 191–223.https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203129739-14Rosalía Cornejo-Parriego Entre érôs y philía : amistades femeninas en la obra de Marina Mayoral, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 8, no.11 (Aug 2010): 13–28.https://doi.org/10.1080/14701840220143968Vicki Bertram Making friends? contemporary women poets' difficulties with friendship*, Women's Studies International Forum 23, no.55 (Sep 2000): 629–643.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(00)00124-2Sharon Monteith Theorizing friendship: Interracial friendships in the American South, Women: A Cultural Review 10, no.22 (Jun 2008): 139–150.https://doi.org/10.1080/09574049908578384Linda C. Pelzer Visions and Versions of Self: The Other/Women in A Mother and Two Daughters, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 34, no.33 (Apr 1993): 155–163.https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.1993.9933822Nancy Walker Language, irony, and fantasy in the contemporary novel by women, Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory 1, no.1-21-2 (Jun 2008): 33–57.https://doi.org/10.1080/10436928908580022Joan Berzoff The therapeutic value of women's adult friendships, Smith College Studies in Social Work 59, no.33 (Jun 1989): 267–279.https://doi.org/10.1080/00377318909517358Pamela Ryan Subversive strategies: Fictional alternatives by women writers, Journal of Literary Studies 4, no.11 (Mar 1988): 86–103.https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718808529854Lising Pagenstecher, Monika Jaeckel, Jutta Brauckmann Mädchen und Frauen unter sich: Ihre Freundschaften und ihre Liebesbeziehungen im Schatten der Geschlechterhierarchie, (Jan 1985): 95–143.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-95494-7_2 Margaret Homans "Her Very Own Howl": The Ambiguities of Representation in Recent Women's Fiction, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 9, no.22 (Oct 2015): 186–205.https://doi.org/10.1086/494043 Lawrence Lipking Aristotle's Sister: A Poetics of Abandonment, Critical Inquiry 10, no.11 (Oct 2015): 61–81.https://doi.org/10.1086/448237