According to researchers, gender appears to play an important role in the quality of relationships between elderly parents and their children. Studies support which of the following?

• A. Sons experience closer relationships with their parents.
• B. Grandchildren experience the closest relationships with their grandparents.
• C. Daughters experience closer relationships with their mothers.
• D. Sons and daughters equally experience the same close and intimate relationships with their parents throughout life.

Answer: (C)

When researchers look at how gender shapes relationships between aging parents and their children, they often find that daughters tend to have a closer, more emotionally intimate relationship with their mothers than sons do. This pattern shows up because daughters are socialized to maintain family ties and take on caregiving and emotional support roles. As mothers age, daughters are more likely to be involved in daily care, to visit more often, and to engage in open, frequent communication. Those ongoing interactions reinforce warmth and closeness in the mother–daughter relationship, making it stand out compared with other parent–child dynamics.

So the best-supported idea is that daughters experience closer relationships with their mothers. This doesn’t deny other strong bonds elsewhere, but the mother–daughter connection tends to be the most consistently close across studies.