Altered Loves Mothers and Daughters During Adolescence

Are mothers jealous of their developing daughters? Is an early mother-child bond severed during adolescence and never formed again? What does adolescence feel like to a girl? Drawing on detailed interviews with mothers and daughters from Terri Apter's research in Great Britain and America, and from recent psychological studies of family interaction, Altered Loves is a frank, moving, and insightful examination of this crucial time in a woman's life. Apter shows that contrary to the classical view of adolescence as a stage in which daughters reject their mothers, adolescent daughters often remain strongly attached to them. The strife that characterizes this period is actually the result of trying to renegotiate a valued relationship. Beautifully written, Altered Loves explodes conventional myths and theories about mother-daughter relationships and offers new and valuable insights that will help mothers remember and daughters understand the delicate, painful, and complex process of becoming a woman.

Terri Apter, PhD, is a writer and researcher on girls’ development and women’s psychology. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she is now a Fellow of Clare Hall. Her book Altered Loves: Mothers and Daughters During Adolescence became a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She appears regularly on BBC radio as Radio Cambridgeshire’s “resident psychologist.” Terri is married and has two teenage daughters.