The Great Mother-Daughter Divide

Interesting article about mother and daughter communication. Nope, my mom ain't my friend and yes, it is a Chinese thing and a language as well as cultural barrier. Can't imagine sending my Mom cards and love notes...she'd freak. But ahh, talk about our kitties and she melts with delightful approval. Dysfunctional? Perhaps. Endearing? Of course. =)

Deborah Tanner Applies Linguistics to Mend Mother-Daughter Divide

Q. Your immigrant mother grew up in a different universe. Are some mother-daughter conflicts rooted in the fact that modern women often live different lives from their mothers?

A. The rapid pace of change in women's lives definitely ratchets up differences. But interestingly, a lot of baby boomer women I interviewed said they had better relations with their daughters than with their mothers.

Their daughters were likely to describe them as their best friends.

To see this relationship as both mother-daughter and a friendship is new — and perhaps particularly American.

There's a study of 12-year-old Austrian and American girls. None of the Austrians described their mothers as "friends," while all of the Americans did.