The present study focused on the relationship between emerging adult daughters and their mothers. It specifically examined the developmental change in mother-daughter relationships from the perspectives of “psychological independence” and “intimacy.” Study 1 was a cross-sectional study that compared 18-24 year-old female university students (N=505) and 25-30 year-old female postgraduates (N=92) to study changes in mother-daughter relationships throughout emerging adulthood. Regarding psychological independence, emerging adult women reported increased reliability in their relationship with their mothers and individuating from them throughout emerging adulthood. Concerning intimacy, daughters reported increased solicitude towards their mothers, but not decrease in their dependent intimacy. Study 2 was a longitudinal study conducted over a year and elucidated the “mother-daughter intimacy-independence model” and study 3 elucidated the process of psychological independence in the context of the four-category model of mother-child relationships. Based on the results, some different processes of understanding mother and maturing intimacy and solving ambivalence by detaching were discussed. Finally, mothers' featuring as a factor of daughters' dependency was discussed.