Mother-Child Relations in Adulthood: Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Families in the Netherlands

Ilse N. Rooyackers, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)
Eva-Maria Merz, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

Based on the Model of Family Change, we examined to what extent mother-child relationships among non-Western immigrants and natives were characterized by material and emotional in(ter)dependence. Latent Class Analysis was applied to data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2004) on the support that Dutch and Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean immigrants gave and received from their mother (N=1,267). A similar 5-class typology in all origin groups showed three types of full-interdependence (‘reciprocal’, ‘upward’, and ‘downward’), an emotional-interdependent, and independent mother-child relationship. Whereas full-interdependence prevailed among immigrants, more Dutch were characterized by downward-interdependence and emotional-interdependence. Irrespective of the child’s origin, independent relationships were uncommon. The results evidence the importance of emotional intergenerational ties in adulthood across families of different origins.