ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the trends in social relations between an older woman in an urban center and her parents, siblings, grandchildren, and more peripheral kin members. The women had two groups of allegiance, their family of orientation until marriage and then the families of their husbands. The social role of daughter is not a source of identification or emphasis for Americans after entrance into the roles of wife and mother. Twenty percent of the respondents have no living siblings, but the proportion varies considerably by class, place of birth, and similar factors. Thirty-six percent of the widows have at the most five, twenty percent have between six and ten, and twelve percent have over ten grandchildren. About one-sixth have siblings living in the neighborhood and twelve of these respondents engage in frequent interaction. Widows aged fifty or over are not highly oriented toward the role of daughter, even if they have a feeling of closeness for their mothers.
