If you liked your mother, will you like your daughter?

November 14, 1995
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ANN ARBOR—For women, that’s not necessarily the case, according to University of Michigan researchers Marjorie Starrels and Hiroko Akiyama.

In a study to be presented Nov. 16 in Los Angeles at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Starrels and Akiyama analyze whether people tend to have the same kind of relationships with their children as they did with their parents.

Men who report having positive relationships with their mothers, however, are more likely to say they have good relationships with children and enjoy their company. The study, based on data from a survey of 620 men and women conducted at the U-M Institute for Social Research, also shows that both men and women who eport having negative relations with either their mothers or their fathers are more likely to say their children get on their nerves and make too many demands.