AHMEDABAD, OCT 30
With everyone practicing social distancing this year, we have been spending much more time with our families. The extreme circumstances of this year have made us value our relationships and brought out the importance of communication, says a survey by an online matrimonial portal.
Commenting on this, Adhish Zaveri, Director – Marketing, Shaadi.com said, “Gujarati families are known to be very close-knit and therefore the most important source of care & support for singles. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in the study, the generation gap between parents and children often translates into a communication gap. Being able to talk about relationship matters freely can help alleviate anxiety and offer comfort. We truly believe that if parents open-up, our children will open-up too.
With most singles in India living at home with their parents, Shaadi Cares, a social initiative by Shaadi.com – India’s No.1 matchmaking service decided to understand the challenges faced by Gujarati youth by being stuck at home and the impact it could have on the dynamics with their parents. The survey reflects the mindset of the youth today when it comes to opening up to their parents and the flip side – what parents think about their relationship with their children.
The survey revealed 69% of youth struggle the most with talking about relationship issues with their parents. And 55% of them also feel that keeping things to themselves builds stress and anxiety. The study further revealed that the generation gap was leading to a communication gap with it being the No.1 reason why they are unable to have these conversations with their parents. Around 66% of the youth stated that they would like to talk about their feelings with their parents and have a more open relationship.
On the other hand, when we asked parents about their relationship, 92% of parents said their children are completely free to have conversations with them. And while the youth felt there was a generation gap, 73% of parents did not feel that the generation gap made it difficult to communicate with their kids. To deep dive and understand why relationship conversations are the hardest, the data revealed that 49% of the parents hadn’t been in a relationship before and hence might find it hard to empathize with their children.
