title: Two women and their mothers: on the internalization and development of mother-daughter relationships.
abstract: This is a report from a 30-year followup study conducted by a member of Margaret Mahler's original separation-individuation research team. Based on a series of unstructured, clinical interviews with the original subjects and psychological testing of the subjects and their mothers, two mother-daughter pairs are compared from the perspective of the meaning of each daughter to her mother, how that meaning influenced the separation-individuation process, and how it influenced the unfolding of each daughter's life as a woman. Because the mother-child pairs were observed several times a week by both participant and nonparticipant observers beginning during the preverbal period, this study offers a unique opportunity to examine the influence of the earliest interactions on adult life.
authors.affiliation: New York University, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fahey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D009679:Nuclear Family / Q000523:psychology*; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*