Adult Daughters’ Family Structure and the Association Between Reciprocity and Relationship Quality

Abstract

The study explores whether family structure is a moderator of the associations between help exchange, reciprocity of this exchange, and the quality of the mother and adult daughter relationship. A total of 183 daughters (mean age = 42.13; SD = 4.91) are either in first marriage ( n = 87), living with a new partner after divorce ( n = 77), or unmarried or divorced in a single-parent household ( n = 99). The analyses are based on the daughters’ self-reports. Results show that intimacy in a relationship is more strongly associated with help exchange for daughters in first marriage than for both groups of divorced daughters. Among daughters who perceive that they give more help than they receive, only the single daughters report more conflict. Findings point to a higher importance of balance in support for single daughters.