It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Abstract

Research on stepchildren has often focused on outcomes that are related to growing up in a stepfamily. These studies are crucial for identifying at-risk behaviors, but they do not stem from issues stepchildren have identified as important. Responses from 36 young adult stepchildren regarding the best and worst parts of stepfamily life are described. Three themes were identified as the best part of growing up in a stepfamily: emotional resources, material resources and personal growth. Five themes were identified as the worst: emotional stress, divided loyalties between two families, loss, changes, and that the stepparent was not really a parent. The next step is to examine the relationship between the quality of the stepparent-stepchild relationship and perceived personal competence of stepchildren at young adulthood.