The Power of Three: A Latent Class Analysis of the Three Parent–Child Relationships in Stepfamilies and Their Influence on Emerging Adult Outcomes (original) (raw)
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The Changing Character of Stepfamilies: Implications of Cohabitation and Nonmarital Childbearing
Demography, 1995
Divorce, nonmarital childbearing, and cohabitation are reshaping family experience in the U.S. Because of these changes, our traditional definitions of "families" decreasingly capture the social units of interest. We have noted how a significant proportion o f officially defined single-parent families are, in actuality, two-parent though unmarried families. We make a similar a rgument in the present paper that the definition of stepfamilies must be expanded to include cohabitations which involve a child of only one partner, and explicitly recognize that stepfamilies include those formed after nonmarital childbearing as well as after separation or divorce. We find that cohabitation and no nmarital childbearing have been important aspects of stepfamily experience for at least two decades, and that this is increasingly so. To define stepfamilies only in terms of marriage clearl y underestimates both the levels and the trend in stepfamily experience: when cohabitation is taken into account, about two-fifths of all women and 30 percent of all children are likely to spend some time in a stepfamily. 1180 Observatory Drive, Rm. 4412 Madison, WI 53706-1393 U.S.A. 608/262-2182 FAX 608/262-8400
PERCEIVED PARENTAL ROLES IN STEPFAMILIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY COHESION AND FUNCTlONlNG
Biological Parents and Stepparents Biological Fathers and Biological Mothers Stepfathers and Stepmothers Biological Father's Attributions of Stepmother Stepmother's Attributions of Biological Father Biological Mother's Attributions of Stepfather Stepfathets Attributions of Biological Mother Children's Perceptions of Fathers and Mothers Children's Perceptions of Biobgical Parents and Stepparents Children's Perceptions of Biological Fathers and Mother Children's Perceptions of Stepfathers and Stepmothers Male and Female Children General Trends viii Descriptive Analyses of the Behavioural Components Age of the Stepchild Length of Time in Current Family Length of Time in a Single Parent Family Family Agreement as a Measure of Family Functioning Predictor Variables for Family Functioning in Stepfamilies CHAPTER IV: DISCUSSION Limitations. Parenting Values and Behaviours. Family Variables.
Family Process, 1986
This study identifies key variables that distinguish nuclear families from step-families, and functional from dysfunctional stepfamilies. Sixty-three family triads (mother, father, child) were studied using five instruments: (1) Family Concept Test, (2) Locke-Wallace Marital Inventory, (3) Family Relations Test, (4) Family Interaction Task, and (5) background questionnaire. Results indicated that functional stepfamilies are similar to functional nuclear families in that both exhibit (1) good marital adjustment, (2) strong, positive bonds between biological parent and child, (3) disinclination to exclude family members, and (4) ability to make mutually compromised family decisions. The key differences were (1) less intense interpersonal involvement between the stepfather and child and (2) a stronger tendency toward the existence of parent-child coalitions in stepfamilies. Similarities between dysfunctional step-families and dysfunctional nuclear families include (1) stronger parent-child coalitions compared to their functional counterparts and (2) lack of mutual decision-making skills that fulfill the choices of individual members. Unexpectedly, marital adjustment was better in dysfunctional stepfamilies than in dysfunctional nuclear families. Relationship patterns were similar in functional stepfamilies and in dysfunctional stepfamilies except that they were more extreme in the dysfunctional stepfamilies. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical implications for understanding stepfamilies, and clinical implications in terms of how dysfunctional stepfamilies might best be treated. Stepfamilies may prove to be the traditional American family of the next century. The rising divorce rate and the high incidence of remarriage have resulted in the stepfamily becoming an increasingly common phenomenon. It has been estimated that over 35 million adults are step-parents and that one of every six children is a stepchild (12). Despite the growth of stepfamilies in the general population, there has been a dearth of carefully controlled, empirical investigations of stepfamilies concerning the nature of interaction among stepfamily members, the level of psychosocial functioning, the stages through which stepfamilies go in an attempt to form a family unit, and other important issues. Indeed, most of the literature on stepfamilies consists of case studies and anecdotal reports focusing primarily on clinical, dysfunctional samples of such families. This has led to a rather gloomy portrait of stepfamily life and supports folktales and myths about "evil stepmothers" and the fear of being "treated like a stepchild." In American culture, the primary model for normal family life has long been the nuclear family unit of two natural parents and their offspring. Not only is this image of the family held to be normal in the statistical sense, but also in terms of its cultural, social, and psychological desirability (30). The phenomenon of the stepfamily is worthy of study on several levels. In a practical sense, clinicians are more and more faced with treating dysfunctional stepfamilies, and many clinicians have not been trained to deal with the unique problems facing such families. For example: "The primary source of problems in remarriage involves the children from the first marriage and their resistance to accepting the remarriage family" (23, p. 430). Thus, the stepfamily has as a major task the integration of offspring into a new, workable family structure. How is the clinician to be guided in this work? If it is assumed that the stepfamily is by definition "abnormal," then the therapist is likely to use the nuclear family as a model for clinical assessment and goal setting. This could result in additional stress on the stepfamily if the therapist attempts to force it into an unrealistic, perhaps unnecessary, structure. If it can be shown that there are characteristic forms of interaction and structure for functional stepfamilies, this would be a more appropriate model for family therapists to employ. In short, if the major task for families is to create a sufficiently healthy atmosphere for child psychosocial functioning and growth, then it should not matter if the family unit is a nuclear family or a stepfamily. From a structural family theory perspective (24, 25, 39 no family style is inherently normal or abnormal, functional our dysfunctional.
Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001
Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we compared quality of family relationships and well-being across five different family structures with a particular focus on adoptive households. Four theoretical perspectives, each emphasizing the importance of different factors in determining relationship quality and wellbeing, guided this work and led us to compare adoptive families with families that include two biological parents, single mothers, stepfathers, and stepmothers. We found the most support for the perspective stressing the importance of family processes that occur in all types of families, rather than family structure. Specifically, there were few family structure differences based on fathers' and children's reports, and structure differences in mothers' reports were no longer significant after
Coparenting in Stepfamilies: Maternal Promotion of Family Cohesiveness with Partner and with Father
Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2015
Coparenting refers to the support parents bring to each other when rearing a child. Supportive coparenting ensures cohesiveness of the family, which is linked with child outcomes. Little is known, however, about the coparental relationship in stepfamilies between the custodial parent, usually the mother, and the new partner, and how it compares to coparenting with the father. This study addressed mother-reported coparenting in stepfamilies and also compared it with that in first-marriage families. Three dimensions of coparenting were considered: family integrity, disparagement, and conflict. Mothers (N = 300) completed questionnaires on their coparenting relationship with the father and with the partner, marital satisfaction, and attachment. Half the mothers were living in a stepfamily with a child between 5 and 13 years old from a previous marriage, and half in a first-marriage family. The main results show that (a) mothers promote family integrity in stepfamilies either with the partner, or with the father, but not with both; (b) the older the child, the less the mothers reported integrity with the father in both families, and the more they reported disparagement against the partner and conflict with the partner in stepfamilies; and (c) maternal marital satisfaction is linked with all dimensions of coparenting with the father in first-marriage families, but only with disparagement against the partner and conflict with the partner in stepfamilies. Overall, coparenting has similar characteristics in both types of families, but also presents differences that should be considered when working with parents who are committed to a new relationship.
Stepfamily Relationship Quality and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
The stepfamily literature is replete with between-group analyses by which youth residing in stepfamilies are compared to youth in other family structures across indicators of adjustment and well-being. Few longitudinal studies examine variation in stepfamily functioning to identify factors that promote the positive adjustment of stepchildren over time. Using a longitudinal sample of 191 stepchildren (56% female, mean age = 11.3 years), the current study examines the association between the relationship quality of three central stepfamily dyads (stepparent–child, parent–child, and stepcouple) and children's internal-izing and externalizing problems concurrently and over time. Results from path analyses indicate that higher levels of parent–child affective quality are associated with lower levels of children's concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1. Higher levels of stepparent–child affective quality are associated with decreases in children's internaliz-ing and externalizing problems at Wave 2 (6 months beyond baseline), even after controlling for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1 and other covariates. The stepcouple relationship was not directly linked to youth outcomes. Our findings provide implications for future research and practice.
Levels of Analyses: Changes in Patterns of Family Interactions from Dyadic to Triadic Level
1988
One goal of a longitudinal study of stepfamilies, divorced maternal custody families, and nondivorced families was to assess similarities and differences between family members' interactions at the dyadic and triadic levels across time. Observers' ratings of videotaped spouse-to-spouse, parent-o-child, and child-to-parent behaviors during both dyadic and triadic problem-solving settings were obtained at three waves of data collection. The results revealed that, coLpared to mothers in nondivorced families, remarried mothers were significantly less
Parent/Child Relationships in Single-Parent Families
Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science-revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 1997
The growing number of single-parent families has not been matched by an increase in our understanding of their family functioning. This study examined parent/child perceptions of relationships and actual interactions as a function of family structure. Participants were 28 Grade 10 adolescents and 28 parents, representing matched groups of mothers and fathers from one- and two-parent families. They completed a
Relationships with Step-parents in the Life Stories of Young Adults of Divorce
Family matters, 2009
Many children spend part of their childhood living in a step-family household. Recent Australian statistics suggest that around one in ten couple families contain resident step-children (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2007). In Wave 3 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, 13% of households had either residential or non-residential step-children, or both (Qu & Weston, 2005). In the United States, approximately 9% of married couple households, and 11.5% of cohabiting households contain resident step-children (Teachman & Tedrow, 2008). Step-family data is not collected in the New Zealand census; however, results from the longitudinal Christchurch Health and Development Study indicate that 18.6% (or around 1 in 6) of the 1,265 survey participants had lived in a step-family between the ages of 6 and 16 years (Nicholson, Fergusson, & Horwood, 1999).