| This study explored intergenerational acculturation differences and how they impact the mother-child relationship. It explored participants' attitudes toward parental authority, child autonomy, and expressions of love and affection. This qualitative study allowed mother-child dyads to discuss their relationships at length, and facilitated an in-depth examination into each participant's unique subjective experiences. Participants spoke about both negative and positive mother-child dynamics, and descriptions of their relationships ranged from strained and argumentative, to loving and close. The adolescents felt like their mothers' approach toward parenting and parental control was not sufficiently adapting as they aged, believing their mothers were holding to a previously successful yet stricter approach toward parenting, rather than modifying the process to suit their developmental needs. They also expressed a desire for their mothers to relate to them in a more emotionally expressive and supportive way. Mothers, on the other hand, expressed much love and affection for their children. They often felt misunderstood, disrespected, and underappreciated, believing that their parenting choices were demonstrative of positive emotions toward their children. This fundamental clash---heavily rooted in culture---between the motivations of the mothers, and the perceptions and attitudes of the children, considerably impacted the mother-child relationship, impeding each person's ability to feel understood. Clinical implications include the potential benefit of interventions designed to facilitate an increase in the recognition of the other individual's perspectives. |
