Abstract
Based on the life course perspective and gender differences in stepparental roles, this study examines frequency of social contact between mid- to late-life stepparents and their stepchildren after stepparents' marriage to their stepchildren's biological parent has been dissolved through widowhood or divorce. Using 5 waves of panel data on stepparent-stepchild pairs from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 12,947 stepchild observations on 4,063 stepchildren belonging to 1,663 stepparents) spanning 10 years (1998-2008), I estimate ordered logit multilevel models predicting former stepparent-stepchild contact frequency. Results indicate that former stepparents have notably less frequent contact with their stepchildren than current stepparents, particularly following divorce. Widowed stepparents' contact with their stepchildren diminishes gradually following union disruption, whereas divorced stepparents' contact frequency drops abruptly. Former stepfathers have less contact with their stepchildren than former stepmothers. Finally, I uncover evidence of the moderating role of (step)parents' marriage length and stepparents' number of biological children on widowed stepparent-stepchild contact frequency. Older stepparents' social contact with their stepchildren is largely conditional on stepparents' enduring marital bond to their stepchildren's biological parent. This study contributes to a growing literature portraying relatively weak ties between older adults and their stepchildren.
Highlights
Based on the life course and gendered practice perspectives, this study examines frequency of social contact between mid- to late-life stepparents and their stepchildren after stepparents’ marriage to their stepchildren’s biological parent has been dissolved through widowhood or divorce
Using five waves of panel data on stepparent-stepchild pairs from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N=12,947 stepchild-observations on 4,063 stepchildren belonging to 1,663 stepparents) spanning 10 years (1998-2008), I estimate ordered logit multilevel models predicting former stepparent-stepchild contact frequency
The analyses reported here are based on longitudinal data on stepparent-stepchildren dyads from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) extending over a 10-year period (1998-2008)
Summary
Based on the life course and gendered practice perspectives, this study examines frequency of social contact between mid- to late-life stepparents and their stepchildren after stepparents’ marriage to their stepchildren’s biological parent has been dissolved through widowhood or divorce. Obligations between members of stepfamilies are less clearly defined and guidelines for role performance less institutionalized (Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010; van der Pas & van Tilburg, 2010) This has raised concern amongst researchers and policy makers that older stepparent-stepchild ties may be significantly weaker and less enduring than older parents’ ties to their biological children (Fingerman et al, 2012; Pezzin, Pollak, & Schone, 2008; Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010; Wachter, 1997). There is some evidence that frequency of intergenerational contact constitutes an overall measure of the strength of the older parent-child tie (Cooney & Uhlenberg, 1990) and an indirect indicator of intergenerational solidarity (Bengtson & Roberts, 1991)
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