title: Estrangement Between Mothers and Adult Children: The Role of Norms and Values.
abstract: Relationships between mothers and their children are expected to be lifelong and rewarding for both members of the dyad. Because of the salience of these ties, they are likely to be disrupted only under conditions of extreme relational tension and dissatisfaction. In this work, the authors drew on theoretical arguments regarding societal norm violations and value similarity to examine the processes that lead to estrangement between mothers and adult children. To address this issue, they used quantitative and qualitative data on 2,013 mother-adult child dyads nested within 561 later life families, including 64 in which mothers reported being estranged from at least 1 of their children. Value dissimilarity was found to be a strong predictor of estrangement, whereas violation of serious societal norms was not. Qualitative data revealed that value dissimilarity created severe relational tension between mothers and adult children leading to estrangement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, 2330 Palmer HDFS Building, Ames, IA 50010 ( mgilliga@iastate.edu ).
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gilligan
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology Purdue University, 700 W State St., West Lafayette IN, 47907.
authors.forename: J Jill
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Suitor
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development MVR Hall, G44, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pillemer
keywords: intergenerational estrangement; intergenerational relations; parent–child relations in adulthood