Relationship management strategies for daughters in conflicted relationships with their ageing mothers

To study relationship management strategies of daughters in conflicted relationships with their mothers and how they promoted or prevented elder abuse.

Daughters have enduring, unique relationships with their mothers that often carry over into caregiving. Pre-caregiving relationship quality is related to many caregiving outcomes, although it is unclear how.

Qualitative study.

Grounded theory design, informed by feminism, with telephone interviews conducted between January 2013-July 2013. The sample (N = 13) was recruited through an online recruitment strategy, with advertisements posted on relevant websites asking 'Are you in an abusive relationship with your ageing mother?'

Daughters used coping strategies and self-protective strategies aimed at decreasing their exposure to aggression and emotional distress when interacting with their ageing mothers. Daughters also used spiteful aggression out of the desire for revenge.

Although the daughters' strategies served their personal needs, they jeopardized the mothers' needs by creating an environment where neglect could occur. Daughters also readily and intentionally used aggression against their mothers. These were strategies daughters have found useful. These strategies may be potential areas for designing interventions to promote healthy family relationships and decrease the occurrence of elder abuse and neglect.