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Gender, Lifespan and Quality of Life pp 7–24Cite as

Personal Well-being and Interpersonal Communication of 12–16 Year-Old Girls and Their Own Mothers: Gender and Intergenerational Issues

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Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 53))

Abstract

Perceptions and evaluations of a paired sample of girls aged 12–16 and their own mothers (N = 358) are analysed in relation to interactions, interpersonal communication and personal well-being related variables. The frequency with which adolescents and mothers share different daily activities is explored, as well as the frequency they talk about different topics (such as television, free time, sports, and family) with each other.

A variety of variables related to personal well-being have been compared between girls and mothers. Girls and mothers were requested to evaluate their satisfaction with specific life domains (including the domains contained in Cummins et al.’s (Developing a national index of subjective well-being: The Australian Unity Well-being Index, Social Indicators Research 64:159–190, 2003) Personal Well-Being Index), and also with their life as a whole. Both mothers and daughters were also asked to what extent the girls themselves, and in the case of mothers, their own daughters, would like to be appreciated by other people at the age of 21 on a list of 23 values. The contribution of all these variables to explain satisfaction with life as a whole has been analysed separately for girls and mothers and, as expected, major differences emerge between generations.

The results obtained suggest the existence of both “generational cultures” and “gendered cultures” (framed around gender stereotypes), especially in relation to the domains considered most satisfactory in life by girls and mothers, and also in the way they evaluate communication between them. Surprisingly, in both girls’ and mothers’ personal well-being, an impact of some perceptions and evaluations raised by the other member of the couple is observed, meaning that there is an intergenerational gender reference inside the family, which influences paired members of the same sex.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Research Institute of Quality of Life, University of Girona, Plaça Sant Domenec 9, 17071, Girona, Spain

    Dr. Mònica González, Cristina Figuer, Sara Malo & Ferran Casas

Authors
  1. Dr. Mònica González
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  2. Cristina Figuer
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  3. Sara Malo
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  4. Ferran Casas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mònica González .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Elizabeth Eckermann

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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González, M., Figuer, C., Malo, S., Casas, F. (2014). Personal Well-being and Interpersonal Communication of 12–16 Year-Old Girls and Their Own Mothers: Gender and Intergenerational Issues. In: Eckermann, E. (eds) Gender, Lifespan and Quality of Life. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 53. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7829-0_2

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