Family Communication and its Effects on Child Developmental Progression

Abstract

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Because divorce rates are high in the United States, the current paper assesses how stepchildren may respond to the introduction of a stepparent, and at what age this introduction may make the most impact. The current study seeks to assess the relationship between family communication in a divorced family with the recent introduction of a stepparent and a stepchild’s subsequent developmental progression through Sigmund Freud’s and Erik Erikson’s life stages. This study also observes the association between reported closeness and levels of satisfaction within the stepparent and stepchild relationship. </span></p><p><span>It was hypothesized that participants who were introduced to a stepparent at an older age, such as adolescence or young adult, would be more impacted in their development. Results did not indicate a significant relationship between age at introduction to stepparent and subsequent relational satisfaction </span><span>F</span><span>(5, 45) = .84, </span><span>p </span><span>> .05. This study makes contributions toward further study in the subject of age at introduction and subsequent relational satisfaction while making suggestions for the introduction of a stepchild and stepparent. </span></p></div></div></div>