GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Father's Day might be a good opportunity for some children to assuage their guilt about the way they treat their fathers. According to a Gallup poll conducted May 5-7, 2000, only 72% of Americans feel they have shown enough appreciation to their fathers. But don't worry, kids -- your fathers aren't holding grudges. In fact, from the fathers' perspectives the story is somewhat different: the vast majority -- nine out of ten -- believe their families appreciate them enough. Interestingly, if not surprisingly, the opposite is true for mothers. More family members claim to have shown appreciation to their mothers than to their fathers (81% versus 72%), yet slightly fewer mothers than fathers feel that their families appreciate them enough (85% compared to 90%).
Mothers Remain the Dominant Influence
Today,
the proportion of individuals indicating that their fathers, rather
than their mothers, had a greater influence on their lives when
they were growing up is larger than when Gallup first asked this
question in 1951. The most recent numbers show 28% of adult
children saying their father was the more influential parent,
compared to 22% in 1951. Even so, both in 1951 and presently,
Americans continue to be more likely to say that mothers were the
dominant influence in their lives. In the current poll, more than
half of American adults -- 53% -- indicate that their mother had
the greater influence on them. Interestingly, as was the case for
fathers, mothers are also more often credited with being the
dominant influence today than in 1951 (when 48% cited their
mother). The real difference is a decline in the percentage of
Americans who say both parents were equally influential -- from 25%
in 1951 to 15% today.
Men are more likely than women to say their fathers had the greater influence on their lives. This gap widens further when considering both gender and age: while 40% of males 18 to 49 years old believe their fathers were more influential than their mothers, this proportion drops to 23% for males 50 years and older.
In the same vein, when asked to rate the nature of the influence their fathers had on their lives, men tend to give their fathers slightly higher scores than do women, with 81% of men saying their fathers were "very" or "somewhat" positive influences, compared to 73% of women who give positive ratings to their fathers. There is greater agreement about the positive influence of mothers, with 89% of men and 87% of women agreeing that their mothers had "very" or "somewhat" positive influences on them.
Fathers Have Positive Relationships with
Children
The vast majority, 83%, of those with fathers
living today characterize their current relationship with their
father as "very" or "somewhat" positive. However, an even larger
proportion, 92%, of adults with living mothers characterize their
relationships with their mothers as positive. Again, men tend to be
slightly more positive about their relationships with their fathers
than are women (87% vs. 80%).
An intriguing twist arises when both age and gender are considered. The older a woman is, the more positively she views her relationship with her father, while the older a man is, the more negatively he rates his father-son relationship. To be specific, males aged 18 to 49 rate their relationships with their fathers higher than do those aged 50 or older (63% versus 48% "very positive"). However, the converse is true of females: those 18 to 49 years old give lower ratings to their relationships with their fathers than do those aged 50 or older (53% versus 78% "very positive").
Survey Methods
The results below are based on
telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of
1,031 adults, 18 years and older, conducted May 5-7, 2000. For
results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent
confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and
other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In
addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into
the findings of public opinion polls.
Looking back on the time when you were growing up, which of your parents would you say had the greater influence on your life -- your mother or your father?
|
Mother |
Father |
BOTH EQUALLY (vol.) |
NEITHER/ OTHER (vol.) |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 May 5-7 |
|||||
|
Total |
53% |
28 |
15 |
4 |
* |
|
Men |
45% |
34 |
16 |
4 |
1 |
|
Women |
61% |
22 |
14 |
3 |
-- |
|
1997 Feb 24-26 |
53% |
27 |
17 |
2 |
1 |
|
1951 Aug 3-8 |
48% |
22 |
25 |
-- |
5 |
Thinking back would you say that your [ROTATE: mother/father] had a very positive influence, a somewhat positive influence, neither positive nor negative, a somewhat negative influence, or a very negative influence on you? How about your … ?
|
Very posi- |
Somewhat posi- |
Neither posi- |
Somewhat nega- |
Very nega- |
NOT APPLIC- |
No opinion |
|
|
A. Mother |
|||||||
|
2000 May 5-7 |
|||||||
|
Total |
64% |
24 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Men |
65% |
24 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
Women |
63% |
24 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
B. Father |
|||||||
|
2000 May 5-7 |
|||||||
|
Total |
49% |
28 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
|
Men |
52% |
29 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
Women |
46% |
27 |
7 |
9 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
How would you characterize your relationship with your mother today -- is it very positive, somewhat positive, neither positive nor negative, somewhat negative, or very negative?
BASED ON -- 649 -- WHOSE MOTHER IS LIVING TODAY; +/- 4 PCT PTS
|
Very posi- |
Somewhat posi- |
Neither posi- |
Somewhat nega- |
Very nega- |
NOT APPLIC- |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 May 5-7 |
|||||||
|
Total |
74% |
18 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
* |
-- |
|
Men |
74% |
18 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
* |
-- |
|
Women |
74% |
18 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
* |
-- |
How would you characterize your relationship with your father today -- is it very positive, somewhat positive, neither positive nor negative, somewhat negative, or very negative?
BASED ON -- 523 -- WHOSE FATHER IS LIVING TODAY; +/- 4 PCT PTS
|
Very posi- |
Somewhat posi- |
Neither posi- |
Somewhat nega- |
Very nega- |
NOT APPLIC- |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 May 5-7 |
|||||||
|
Total |
59% |
24 |
8 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
-- |
|
Men |
62% |
25 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
-- |
|
Women |
56% |
24 |
10 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
-- |
Do you feel your family appreciates you enough as a mother, or do they not appreciate you enough?
BASED ON -- 408 -- MOTHERS; +/- 5 PCT PTS
|
Yes, enough |
No, not enough |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 May 5-7 |
85% |
14 |
1 |
Do you feel your family appreciates you enough as a father, or do they not appreciate you enough?
BASED ON -- 316 -- FATHERS; +/- 6 PCT PTS
|
Yes, enough |
No, not enough |
No opinion |
|
|
2000 May 5-7 |
90 |
8 |
2 |
Looking back on your life, would you say you, personally, have shown or showed enough appreciation to your own [ROTATE: mother/father]?How about to your own… ?
|
Yes |
No |
DOES NOT APPLY (vol.) |
No opinion |
A. Mother
|
2000 May 5-7 |
||||
|
Total |
81% |
16 |
1 |
2 |
|
Men |
81% |
16 |
1 |
2 |
|
Women |
82% |
15 |
* |
3 |
B. Father
|
2000 May 5-7 |
||||
|
Total |
72% |
21 |
4 |
3 |
|
Men |
73% |
22 |
3 |
2 |
|
Women |
70% |
21 |
4 |
5 |
* Less than 0.5%
(vol.) Volunteered response
