Project background

Mothers and daughters was funded by the ESRC in 1977, with the grant holder being Mildred Blaxter, MRC Medical Sociology, Aberdeen.

This collection consists of 47 interview transcripts made with repsondents of the grandmother generation. The 'grandmother' respondents were defined as women who had a child in the City of Aberdeen in 1950-53, who were at the time in social class IV or V, who had a daughter who had a child or children born in the same city, herself in social class IV or V at the time, and still living in the City and in touch with the grandmother. The respondents were thus aged around 50, and had disadvantaged social histories.

The interviews covered health and social history, beliefs and attitudes to health and to medical care, and inter-generational relationships.

The research led to a publication, Blaxter, M. and Paterson, E. (1982) Mothers and Daughters: a three-generational study of health attitudes and behaviour, London, Heinemann Educational Books.