Daughter-initiated health advice to mothers: perceptions of African-American and Latina daughters

The prevailing paradigm of health exchange within the family is for health advice to flow from parent to child. Consistent with this pattern of exchange, most research has focused on the one-directional influence of the parent on the child and there is thus an absence of literature that explores the ability of adolescents to influence their parents' health behaviors. This qualitative study addressed this gap by exploring the feasibility of daughters providing health advice to their mothers. Twelve focus groups were conducted with 78 African-American and Latina daughters between the ages of 12 and 17 from low-income neighborhoods in a Mid-Western city in the United States. This study utilized a grounded theory approach to examine the focus group data. The findings indicate that many daughters report that they are already giving their mothers a wide spectrum of advice, including health advice. Differences were found in the reported willingness of African-American daughters when compared to Latina daughters to provide their mothers with specific cancer advice. These data suggest that some of these daughters have the potential to be valuable health education conveyers in the family.