In Kazakhstan, housing crisis forces families to live in multigenerational households. Two generations extensively sharing one common dwelling might expose and exacerbate inter-generational differences and conflicts. The study applies theory of acculturation gap to ex-plain intergenerational differences between first generation born and brought up during the communist Soviet Union and second generation raised during capitalist neo-liberal post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The aim of the study is to explore the reasons for acculturation gap be-tween first and second generations in urban and middle-class settlements and analyse im-pact of acculturation gap on quality of life of second-generation women in Kazakhstan. Women were chosen because prior studies suggest that second generation is more likely to experience psychological distress and women in Kazakhstan are more likely to be negatively affected by patriarchal traditions towards daughters-in-law. The findings show that second generation women hold polarised values that position them in conflicting situation with first generation and, at the same time, make them as ‘continuity’ of Soviet generation. Individualism, misogyny towards daughters-in-law and re-Islamisation of the second generation to be the main factors causing acculturation gap between generations. Intersec-tionalities of social class, education and urbanisation play a determining role empowering the women to have individualistic and gender egalitarian values and rebel living in multi-generational household. Nevertheless, there is also trend of women sharing collectivistic traditional values as first generation evident in acknowledging a man as a dominant figure in family despite being exposed to feminist ideas. Women who lived with their parents were more willing to live in multigenerational household and had more sense of duty to parents compared to women who lived with parents-in-law. Resurgence of national identity that entailed retraditionalisation and re-Islamisation has influence on reinforcing conservative values among second generation in Kazakhstan. Moreover, there is a positive association between acculturation gap and psychological distress among women of second generation. In extreme cases, acculturation gap resulted in domestic violence and divorce was the only way out of domestic violence. The study makes contribution to theory of acculturation gap by filling in the gap on intergenerational conflict between Soviet and ‘Nazarbayev’ generations in Kazakhstan context.
