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Regional Differences in Mother–Adult-Child Relations: A Brief Report

¹ Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Center on Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
² Department of Sociology, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.

Address correspondence to Jori Sechrist, Purdue University, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47906. E-mail: sechristj{at}purdue.edu

Objectives. In the past decade, there has been increasing interest in regional differences in attitudes and behaviors; however, little of this research has focused on families, particularly in later life. The goal of this article is to address two specific questions: (a) Does adult children's closeness and contact with mothers vary by region? and (b) Can traditionalism explain patterns of regionality?

Methods. To address these questions, we used a subsample of adult children (aged 25–74) from the National Survey of Families and Households (Wave II) who were asked about contact and closeness with their mothers (aged 65 and older).

Results. Adult children residing in the South reported greater contact and closeness with mothers than those residing in other parts of the country. Traditionalism regarding gender ideology and religious involvement could not account for the greater contact and closeness observed among Southern respondents.

Discussion. Recent literature has demonstrated the persistence of a distinctive Southern culture; the present study contributes to this body of work by showing that intergenerational cohesion is also greater in the South than in other regions of the United States. These findings call for greater attention to regionality in future studies of intergenerational relations.