Daughtering and daughterhood : an explanatory study of the role of adult daughters in relation to mothers

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dc.contributor.advisorMaxwell, Madeline M.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberDonovan, Erin
dc.contributor.committeeMemberMenchaca, Martha
dc.contributor.committeeMemberVangelisti, Anita
dc.creatorAlford, Allison McGuire
dc.creator.orcid0000-0001-6175-5800
dc.date.accessioned2016-10-13T14:17:35Z
dc.date.accessioned2018-01-22T22:30:45Z
dc.date.available2016-10-13T14:17:35Z
dc.date.available2018-01-22T22:30:45Z
dc.date.issued2016-08
dc.date.submittedAugust 2016
dc.date.updated2016-10-13T14:17:35Z
dc.description.abstractThis study investigated the role of an adult daughter in mid-life, a time in a woman’s life when she has a personal relationship with her mother based upon shared interests more than dependence for care. Using interactional role theory (Turner, 2001), this study explored the understanding a daughter has for her role as an adult daughter in everyday encounters with her mother. Participants in this study described that when in situations that call for daughtering, they enact the adult daughter role. For this study, adult daughter participants (N = 33) ranging in age from 25-45 years old participated in face-to-face interviews to discuss their role as an adult daughter to their mothers. All participants had a living, healthy mother age 70 or younger. From daughters’ discussions of everyday communication with their mothers, layers of meaning were uncovered which related to the adult daughter role. Using role theory as a guide, thematic analysis revealed six themes of meaning. These findings contribute to an understanding of the social construction of an important role, which daughters learn over a lifetime and which they use to communicate within a family. Discussions of daughtering were challenging to participants due to borrowed vocabulary for describing this role, narrow role awareness, and a low valuation of the work of daughtering. When sorting role influences, daughters noted their mothers and a variety of other sources that inform role expectations. This finding prompted a new manner for evaluating daughters as a daughterhood, or community of role players collectively enacting the same role. Finally, participant responses revealed new ways to conceive of the social construction of the adult daughter role and the practice of daughtering and daughterhood, with outcomes including a variety of comportments for performing daughtering. Implications for future research by communication scholars, as well as for practitioners who work with adult daughter-mother pairs, will be presented with other results from this study.
dc.description.departmentCommunication Studies
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifierdoi:10.15781/T2BG2HC0W
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/41621
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectDaughtering
dc.subjectDaughterhood
dc.subjectAdult daughters
dc.subjectDaughter
dc.subjectMother
dc.subjectMother-daughter
dc.subjectInterpersonal communication
dc.subjectFamily
dc.subjectCommunication
dc.subjectMothering
dc.subjectMotherhood
dc.subjectKinwork
dc.subjectKin work
dc.subjectHabit
dc.subjectHabituation
dc.subjectSocial interaction
dc.subjectHabitus
dc.subjectCommunity
dc.subjectImagined communities
dc.subjectCommunities of practice
dc.subjectLabor
dc.subjectWork
dc.subjectLifespan
dc.subjectRoles
dc.subjectInteractional role Theory
dc.subjectSocial construction
dc.subjectRole transitions
dc.subjectRole performance
dc.subjectEveryday
dc.subjectNormative communication
dc.subjectParent-child
dc.subjectQualitative methods
dc.subjectInterview
dc.subjectThematic analysis
dc.titleDaughtering and daughterhood : an explanatory study of the role of adult daughters in relation to mothers
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext

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