49% Say Mother Was Most Influential Parent, 33% Name Father

The FINANCIAL — Looking back, nearly half of American adults nationwide say mom influenced them more than dad when they were growing up.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 49% name their mother as being the more influential parent in their upbringing. One-in-three adults (33%) say their father was more influential. Eleven percent (11%) name someone other than their parents.

Men are a bit more evenly divided on the question than women. Men still pick their mothers over their fathers by a 43% to 36% margin, but women say their moms were more influential by nearly two-to-one – 55% to 30%.

However, Americans almost universally agree that it’s better for children to grow up in a home with both their parents and feel strongly that such children have an edge over those whose parents are divorced. 

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 15-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Adults younger than 30 feel the strongest that their mother was the most influential to their upbringing.

Among adults who grew up with both parents in their household, 46% say their mom was more influential, while 37% say that of their dad. But among those who did not grow up with both parents, 60% name their mother as being the most influential versus 19% who say that about their father. Another 19% of the latter group say someone other than either parent was the most influential person during their upbringing.

Still, 73% of all adults believe being a father is a man’s most important role in today’s world. By comparison, 63% say being a mother is a woman’s most important role.

But while 18% regard Father’s Day as one of the nation’s most important holidays, 31% say that about Mother’s Day.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of adults feel that children are at least somewhat important in keeping a marriage together, including 47% who say they are a Very Important factor. A plurality (45%) believes it is too easy to get a divorce in America today.