When Your Children Marry

by Merrill, Deborah M.

• ISBN13: 9781442210929
• ISBN10: 1442210923
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-05
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

ôThis engaging and highly readable book takes a familiar adage and uses it to ask central questions about intergenerational relationships: how are adult children's relations with parents transformed by marriage and through what process does this occur? Skillfully weaving material from in-depth interviews with mothers, adult sons, and adult daughters, Merrill presents evidence for traditional patterns but also suggests that recent trends toward gender equality may have led to more parallel relations with adult sons and daughters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Illustrations of Intergenerational Relationships	p. 9
Relationships between Parents and Adult Children	p. 23
Gender Differences in Contact with Parents and In-Laws: Do Couples See More of Her Family Than His?	p. 35
ôA Daughter Is a Daughter All of Her Life, but a Son Is a Son 'til He Takes Him a Wifeö: Myth or Reality?	p. 49
The Effect of Marriage on Intergenerational Relationships	p. 61
The Challenge for Mothers in Parent-Adult Child Relationships	p. 71
The Evolution of Intergenerational Relationships Following Children's Marriages	p. 81
Divorce and Later-Life Families	p. 91
Advice to Mothers for Maintaining Intergenerational Relationships	p. 101
Reciprocal Effects: How Do Intergenerational Relationships Affect Adult Children's Marriages?	p. 111
Conclusion	p. 121
Methodology	p. 133
Interview Guidelines	p. 139
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