Attentive Love: A Feminist Perspective on the Caregiving of Adult Daughters

Ruddick's (1989) theory of attentive love is applied to interview data from 29 adult daughters caring for their aging mothers. The aim of the project was to look for similarities and differences between the thinking and practice of caregiving to children and the related but distinct type of caring labor that adult daughters provide for their frail, elderly mothers. Support was found for the theory that adult daughters preserve their aging mothers' lives, foster their growth, and try to help their mothers remain acceptable to society. Implications for family and gerontological practitioners from a feminist analysis of parental caregiving are discussed.