A study found 26% of fallouts involved fathers – compared to 6% with mothers.
A study found 26% of fallouts involved fathers – compared to 6% with mothers.
Adults are four times more likely to be estranged from their dads than their moms, according to new research.
A new study found 26 percent of fallouts involved fathers – compared to six percent with mothers.
Researchers say the phenomenon is explained by traditional parental roles – with men being the breadwinners and women looking after the household.
Overall, adult children were less likely to be cut off from their mothers as they had spent the most time with them.
Study lead author Professor Rin Reczek, a sociologist at The Ohio State University, said: “Mothers are the primary caregivers to children in our society.
“So it makes sense they are more likely to stay close with their children.”
But distancing is only temporary for most with 81 and 69 percent of estrangements with mothers and fathers ending respectively.
The first study of its kind suggests family feuds are more complicated – and less permanent – than often assumed.
The findings are based on an analysis of 8,495 mother-child and 8,119 father-child relationships in the US spanning 40 years.
Parents were interviewed regularly from 1979 to 2018. From 1994 their adult children reported closeness. Those with no or very little contact counted as estranged.
A variety of relevant factors including gender, race and ethnicity and sexuality were identified, said Reczek.
Separations often occurred soon after the children became adults. The average age of mothers and fathers was 26 and 23 respectively.
Adult children who had been married and divorced were more likely to be estranged compared to never-married adults.
Having their own children reduced the risk of estrangement from fathers – but not from mothers.
Parents who were older and employed – and fathers with higher levels of education – were less likely to have separations from their children.
Reczek said: “It may be when parents are employed and fathers are highly educated, they can provide more support to their adult children and that puts less strain on the parent-child ties.”
Adult children may be less likely to be estranged from older parents because they require caregiving.
A variety of relevant factors including gender, race and ethnicity and sexuality were identified, said Reczek.
Black adults were 27 percent less likely to be estranged from their mothers than their white counterparts.
It’s in line with research showing black mothers are a uniquely stable feature in US family life, say the researchers.
But lack and Latino adults are more likely to report an estranged relationship with their fathers than white adults.
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
