Perceived change in the mother-adult daughter relationship after the birth of the first child

This study examined daughters' perceptions of change in the quality of their maternal relationship following the birth of their first child.{09}The 54 participants were predominantly Jewish, Caucasian, highly educated, upper-middle-class, married daughters, ranging in age from 22 through 41. These participants were interviewed about their perceptions of their maternal relationship from childhood through postpartum.; Daughters describing their maternal relationship more positively prior to pregnancy were more likely to feel closer to their mothers prior to pregnancy. Similarly, adult daughters describing a more positive maternal relationship during the first 7 months postpartum were also more likely to feel closer to their mothers postpartum. Furthermore, postpartum, the association between the daughters' maternal relationship and maternal closeness was not as strong.; Daughters with closer and more positive pre-pregnancy perceptions of their maternal relationship continued to describe a positive postpartum maternal relationship. However, these daughters failed to report feeling closer to their mothers. Furthermore, daughters with distant and more negative pre-pregnancy perceptions of their maternal relationship failed to characterize their postpartum maternal relationship as negative and more distant. Instead at postpartum, these particular daughters experienced a positive shift in their maternal relationship.; Regardless of their pre-pregnancy characterization of their maternal relationship, all participants revealed an overall positive shift in their postpartum maternal relationship. Although all the daughters reported increased feelings of maternal closeness and an improved maternal relationship, daughters describing a more negative pre-pregnancy maternal relationship showed greater positive change in their feelings of closeness and in their maternal relationship.; No relationship was found between the daughters' age and their postpartum maternal relationship; however, younger daughters described a more positive pre-pregnancy maternal relationship than older daughters.; As a consequence of their transition to motherhood, daughters seemed to change the topics of conversation they had with their mothers. Now these daughters focused on their new child when talking with their mothers. Furthermore, there were also differences in how frequently the daughters contacted their mothers, how often they spoke on the phone with their mothers, and how they handled maternal conflict as well as whether they turned to their mothers for childcare assistance.