Changing Parent-child Relationships: An Outcome of Mother Returning to College.

Forty women and partners were interviewed separately about changes in parent-child interactions and other family relationships after the mother had returned to college study. Mothers reported spending less time with each child. However, both parents generally reported that, overall, their children were now receiving more and better parental contact and that there had been qualitative improvement in father-child relationships, in particular. Rather than be guided by some earlier more pessimistic research, counsellors and educators are encouraged to recognize that the benefits to older women of returning to study and to their families seem widespread and important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]