Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2000

Thesis Director

Melanie Mills

Abstract

This study examines the effects of social support in intergenerational relationships among women in families. The research examines ethnography as a study, some of the benefits of research done in intergenerational communication, changes in this communication over the time span of the intergenerational relationships, the transmission of this communication, social support, the positive effects of the phenomenon of this type of communication for all those participating in this dynamic process, and the heuristic value of this research. The participants were forty women in my extended family, and this study is based upon their answers to a questionnaire and focus group session. The findings create a descriptive analysis that provides (1) a definition of what consists of "our family"; (2) definitions of the woman's role; (3) the rules and expectations of that role; (4) stories that explain our family; and (5) stories that define women's relationships with one another.

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