Mothers are credited as having the biggest influence on shaping Australians, according to new research released to mark Mother’s Day in Australia.
The survey of 1,013 people, carried out by McCrindle Research, found that 41 per cent of people credited their mothers as having the biggest influence in shaping who they are, followed by fathers (21 per cent), spouses or partners (12 per cent) and friends (four per cent). Females are more likely (45 per cent) to consider their mothers their biggest influence than males (36 per cent).
The poll also found that 16 per cent of Australians tell their mother that they love her every week, 15 per cent do so every day and 12 per cent do so every month.
According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the median age of first time mothers in Australia is 30.5 years, up from 29 in 2011. Mothers make up at least 77 per cent of Australian women aged 15 and older and are parenting some 5.5 million children in Australia with an average of 1.8 children per household.