Interpersonal communication key to daughters' well-being

"The goal of the research was to understand how communication can change the way daughters make sense of their experiences," said Haley Horstman, a narrative scholar and assistant professor of interpersonal and family communication in the College of Arts and Science at MU "When dealing with difficult situations from death to problems in school, how a daughter communicates with her mother will impact her overall well-being. We wanted to learn how aspects of interpersonal communication such as perspective-taking, coherence and taking turns impact how we make sense of adversity."

In the study, Horstman had 62 daughters write out a story of a difficulty they were experiencing and complete a well-being survey. The daughters then met with their mothers to tell their stories. Two days later, the daughters completed another written survey with the story-writing prompt and measures of well-being. In analyzing the results, Horstman found that the stories between mothers and daughters changed over time and with respect to qualities of the mother-daughter conversation. Researchers found that by taking turns and sharing each other's perspective during their conversation, daughters tended to write their stories more positively over time.

"The takeaway of this study is that our narratives matter," said Horstman. "Interpersonal communication has the power to change the way we make sense of our lives. If mothers can foster warmth and affection in their conversations, and if daughters listen to their mother's perspective, the conversations can help daughters work through negative emotions associated with stress."