Older mother-adult daughter dyads (N = 44) were interviewed separately about 3 variables hypothesized to affect satisfaction with the help provided to mothers by their daughters: feelings of interpersonal control, perspective-taking abilities, and attributions made about the self and other dyad member during positive and negative helping interactions. The most important predictors of partner satisfaction were mothers' and daughters' ability to accurately perceive the partner's feelings about the helping relationship and their feelings of interpersonal control. The most salient predictors of mothers' and daughters' own satisfaction were the attributions they made about the partner during a negative helping situation and their feelings of interpersonal control. These findings underscore the importance of considering interpersonal psychological variables in research concerned with helping relationships in later life.

Older mother-adult daughter dyads (N = 43) addressed two issues pertaining to the ways in which help is initiated (offered, requested, and imposed help) and type of help given (instrumental help, advice, and emotional support) a) mothers' reasoning about these aspects of help, and b) daughters' understanding of mothers' feelings. Both groups noted that mothers were most comfortable with offered help; however, mothers indicated equal comfort with requested or imposed help, while daughters felt mothers were more comfortable with requested help than imposed help. Mothers and daughters both felt that mothers were less comfortable receiving additional instrumental help or advice than emotional support. Reasons given for mothers' feelings indicated that mothers saw both positive and negative elements in the help given by their adult daughters. Overall, daughters demonstrated a good understanding of mothers' feelings about the helping relationship.

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