Personal Well-being and Interpersonal Communication of 12–16 Year-Old Girls and Their Own Mothers: Gender and Intergenerational Issues

Abstract

In this chapter, the study of well-being, interactions and interpersonal communication in adolescence is addressed through the study of girls' well-being and perceptions compared with that of their own mothers, specifically and independently of boys' and fathers' well-being and interpersonal communication. Therefore, emphasis is moved from the comparison between gender to the analysis of common and different views in the perceptions and evaluations of people of the same sex, who are regularly interacting and who differ substantially in their age. Some potential gender and generational cultures aspects can be more easily detected. The objectives of this study are the following: 1. To comparatively explore interactions and interpersonal communication of 12 to 16 year-old girls and their own mothers in terms of activities (frequency of sharing different activities) and conversations (frequency in talking about different topics). 2. To comparatively explore both girls' and mothers' personal well-being in terms of satisfaction with specific life domains and satisfaction with life as a whole and other related variables such as values aspired to for the girls' future. 3. To analyse potential differences in both interpersonal communication and personal well-being related variables according to the age of the girl. 4. To explore which variables (between satisfaction with specific life domains, values aspired to and reported frequency of some activities) better explain girls' and mothers' satisfaction with life as a whole, respectively, including perceptions and evaluations of each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)