Adolescent Adjustment and Stepparenting Styles

Abstract

The discovery that adolescents in stepfamilies experience higher rates of negative outcomes than adolescents in nuclear families has generated interest in how the stepparenting process may affect adolescent development. Research comparing adjustment problems in adolescents from nuclear families versus stepfamilies has found less complete socialization and lower educational expectations and attainments in adolescents in stepfamilies (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Dornbusch et al., 1985; Furstenberg, 1987; Hetherington, 1993; Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992; Thomson, McLanahan & Curtin, 1992). The combination of normal adolescent developmental tasks and the complexities of stepfamily life may put these adolescents at particular risk. However, many adolescents are well adjusted and develop normally in stepfamilies. How might this variability in adolescent outcomes be related to stepparenting? Historically, research on stepparenting has focused on the ambiguity of role definitions for stepparents (Cherlin, 1978; Fine, Kurdek, & Hennigen, 1991; Giles-Sims, 1984). More recently, interest in specific parental behaviors in stepfamilies has come to the fore (Fine, Voydanoff, & Donnelly, 1993), but the best role definition for stepparents, particularly for stepparents of adolescents, is still in question. In the present research, we adapted a theoretical model of parenting styles for use with stepparents and then tested the relationships between stepparenting styles and adolescent adjustment. Based on the results, recommendations for family life educators, family therapists, and stepfamily members are made. THEORETICAL MODELS OF PARENTING STYLES Since the seminal work of Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957), most theories of parenting, including Baumrind (1971), have focused on the additive effects of dimensions of parental behavior (Kurdek & Fine, 1994). The two major dimensions are support (including warmth, acceptance, and nurturance) and control (including supervision and discipline) (Barber Rollins, 1990; Peterson & Rollins, 1987). Combining high versus low levels of these two dimensions distinguishes four parenting styles: Authoritarian-autocratic, Authoritative-reciprocal, Permissive-indulgent, and Indifferent-uninvolved (Macoby & Manin, 1983). Baumrind's (1971) original model had not differentiated between these last two styles, but in later work these styles were differentiated. Surprisingly, most studies of parenting styles and adolescent outcomes have focused on single dimensions of parenting, despite the acceptance of additive models. Recently, Baumrind (1991) and Lamborn, Mounts, Steinberg, and Dornbusch (1991) did use the four styles, additive model to study adolescents and their parents. Both studies identified the Authoritative parenting style as the most conducive and the Indifferent style as the least conducive for adolescent well-being. This model needs to be adapted to apply to stepparents. Baumrind (1971) and others, reviewed in Maccoby and Martin (1983) and Peterson and Rollins (1987), created their models for biological parents; assumptions about the legal and moral responsibilities of biological parents underlie the labels given to the four styles, specifically that parents are supposed to be actively involved in both the support and control dimensions of parenting. The same assumptions cannot be made about stepparents. The law does not hold stepparents responsible for either dimension of parenting, or for the behavior of their stepchildren. Also, there is wide variation between and within families in beliefs about the moral and behavioral responsibilities of being a stepparent; these range from believing that stepparents have no obligation to parent to believing that they are morally responsible to help rear their stepchildren. Therefore, the less active parenting styles (i.e., Permissive-indulgent and Indifferent-uninvolved) may be not only more common and more appropriate, but these more laissez-faire types of parenting behaviors should have a less negative label when applied to step parents. …