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Report on What's Your Mom Like? A SmartGirl Survey on Mothers
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
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This survey was from April 2008. Over 400 people responded: 395 girls, 10 boys, and 16 people who chose not to say. You were from a range of ages, backgrounds, and countries from all over the world. Most of you said that your own mother was your mother-figure, but some said that people like their grandmothers or aunts were their mother-figures too. The majority - 303 people - told us that they had good or great relationships with their mothers.
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You guys seemed pretty optimistic about getting along with your mothers, saying that you got along half of the time, most of the time, or always. Only 31 responses said that they only rarely or never got along with their mothers.
About 82% of survey takers told us they were somewhat or very close with their moms.
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| Which of the following would you feel comfortable discussing with your mom? |
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| It looks like you guys would feel comfortable discussing a variety of things with your mothers, from puberty to your friends. |
Survey takers were pretty evenly split between going to your mom for advice or not; about the same number of people said that they did as said that they didn't (rarely 100: 91 often). But, about 75% of you reported that when you did go to your mother for advice, her advice was at least sometimes, often, or always helpful.
Only about one-third, or 32%, said that your relationship with your mom hadn't changed much if at all over the past few years. That means that about two-thirds had noticed some or a lot of change.
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| In what ways has your relationship with your mother changed in recent years? |
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| The top three ways that your relationships with your moms seem to have changed in recent years are: you two can talk more, you feel closer to your mom, and that you don't feel like you spend as much time together. |
Most of you would call you mothers one of your friends, too: approximately 69%, compared with approximately 27%, who would not say their mother was also a friend. Keep in mind that some of these percentages will not add up to 100, because some people chose not to answer some questions.
Interestingly, only about half of survey responders said that they were like their mothers, at 54%. Almost half, or 41%, said that they were not like their mothers.
Nearly 1 in 5, or about 18%, told us on this survey that they did not really want to be parents someday.
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We asked what one thing that annoyed you about your mother was, and here are some of your answers:
~ "She embarrasses me in front of my friends."
~ "She assumes everything is the same as when she was growing up."
~ "She won't let me live my life."
~ "She makes me clean on Saturday!"
~ "Sometimes she's nosy."
~ "We fight over food."
~ "It's always one rule for her, and another rule for me."
~ "Nagging."
We also asked you to tell us the best thing about your mom, and you responded:
~ "She'll stand up for me."
~ "How completely she loves me."
~ "She can be quite funny."
~ "She takes pride in my accomplishments."
~ "When I am sick, she cares for me."
~ "She gives good advice."
~ "She's so smart!"
~ "She's there for me."
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Thanks for sending us your thoughts on your moms, everyone! It looks like, generally speaking, most of you have pretty good connections to your moms. It also looks like there were issues that a lot of people had, which stemmed from feeling unheard, and also feeling like your mom wants everything to be perfect. But you also know how much she cares for you. Whether or not you consider you mother a friend, and whether or not you might want to be a parent someday yourself, it's great to see that many of you felt like there were a range of things you could talk about with your mom. That's important!
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2007.
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