Stepchildren's Perceptions Research Articles

Investigating Stepparent-Stepchild Interactions: The Role of Communication Accommodation

This study examined the utility of communication accommodation theory (CAT) to investigate stepchildren's perceptions of communication patterns in typical interactions with their stepparents. A total of 133 stepchildren completed an online survey about their perceptions of their stepparents’ accommodative and nonaccommodative behaviors. A measure of accommodation, overaccommodation, and underaccommodation was created for this study and items were tested with factor analysis. Findings indicate support for CAT's predictions: perceptions of stepparent accommodation, underaccommodation and overaccommodation predict stepchildren's accommodative behavior in typical interactions, as well as their conversation satisfaction, relational closeness and perceptions of shared family identity with their stepparents. Further, stepchildren's perceptions of shared family identity with stepparents correlate positively with their reports of satisfaction with blended family life.

Patterns of Stepchild-Stepparent Relationship Development

Thirty-two stepdaughters and 17 stepsons participated in this grounded theory study of emerging adult stepchildren's perceptions about how relationships with their stepparents developed. The theory created from this study proposes that the degree to which stepchildren engage in relationship-building and -maintaining behaviors with stepparents is a function of stepchildren's evaluative judgments about the stepparents' positive contributions. Stepchildren's judgments about stepparents are made with inputs from biological parents and other kin. Stepchildren's ages when relationships began, gender of stepchildren and stepparents, and time spent together because of custody arrangements provided the context within which relationships developed. The outcomes in this grounded theory were six patterns of step-relationship development: accepting as a parent, liking from the start, accepting with ambivalence, changing trajectory, rejecting, and coexisting. These patterns of development were distinct trajectories that related closely to qualitatively different stepparent-stepchild relationships. Only 30% of stepchildren with multiple stepparents evaluated them similarly. Key Words: grounded theory, remarriage, stepchild, stepparent. adore Jim. I despised Bill. Greta was great. Laura 1 did like: I disagreed with her on a lot of stuff, but 1 did really get along with her. And Babbette just isn't a pleasant person. - Nina, about her stepparents. Although clinicians (Visher & Visher, 1996) and researchers (Crosbie-Burnett, 1984) have long focused attention on stepparent -stepchild relationships as key to overall stepfamily functioning, surprisingly little research exists on the processes by which these relationships develop (Ganong & Coleman, 2004; King, 2006). Given that almost one third of U.S. children will live with a stepparent before they reach adulthood (Bumpass, Raley, & Sweet, 1995) and that lower levels of well-being among stepchildren compared to children in nuclear families have often been attributed to adjustment problems related to acquiring a stepparent (Ganong & Coleman), it is important for researchers to better understand how step-relationships develop, particularly step-relationships that are satisfying for the individuals involved. Knowing how affirming step-relationships develop is useful for practitioners and researchers. Stepparents ' Contributions to Step-relationships Several researchers have reported that steprelationships are closer when stepparents take a supportive role with stepchildren and let biological parents do most of the disciplining (CrosbieBurnett & Giles-Sims, 1994; Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992). Additionally, authoritative stepparents - who favor high warmth and flexible control as a parenting style - have better relationships with stepchildren than authoritarian stepparents, who demonstrate low warmth and high control (Golish, 2003; Henry & Lovelace, 1995). Some stepparents recognize that their stepchildren are more willing to accept them if they treat them warmly (EreraWeatherly, 1996; Svare, Jay, & Mason, 2004) and engage in friendship-building strategies early in the relationship (Ganong, Coleman, Fine, & Martin, 1999). These research findings echo clinicians' advice for stepparents to befriend stepchildren and try to build close relationships with them before attempting to discipline them (Visher & Visher, 1 996). Although the idea that stepparents should engage stepchildren in activities that are supportive and fun until relational bonds are firmly established may seem logical, not all stepparents do this (Ganong et al., 1999). Many stepparents quickly try to set rules and administer discipline (Berger, 1998; Bray & Kelly, 1998; Erera-Weatherly, 1996; MacDonald & DeMaris, 1996), which often results in conflict and emotionally distant relationships (Bray & Kelly, 1998; Ganong et al. …

Centered but not Caught in the Middle: Stepchildren's Perceptions of Dialectical Contradictions in the Communication of Co-Parents

The researchers adopted a dialectical perspective to study how stepchildren experience and communicatively manage the perception of feeling caught in the middle between their parents who are living in different households. The metaphor of being caught in the middle is powerful for stepchildren and this metaphor animated their discourse. A central contribution of the present study was to understand the alternative to being caught in the middle and what this alternative means to stepchildren. Reflected in the discourse of stepchildren is that to feel not caught in the middle is to feel centered in the family. Stepchildren's desire to be centered in the family was animated by the dialectic of freedom–constraint, which co-existed within the contradictions of openness–closedness and control–restraint. These contradictions are detailed in the analysis, along with advice to parents from the perspective of stepchildren. Implications for the interaction of stepchildren and their parents are discussed.

“You're My Parent but You're Not”: Dialectical Tensions in Stepchildren's Perceptions About Communicating with the Nonresidential Parent

The nonresidential parent plays a role in the lives of stepchildren and in stepfamily households. The focus of the present study was on the interaction between the nonresidential parent and his/her child who resides as part of a stepfamily household. Grounded in relational dialectics theory, the researchers performed an interpretive analysis of 50 transcribed interviews with college-aged stepchildren. Stepchildren's perceptions of communication with the nonresidential parent were animated by two contradictions: parenting/nonparenting and openness/closedness. These two contradictions form a totality, interwoven with one another. The parenting/nonparenting contradiction reflected stepchildren's ambivalence over parenting attempts of nonresidential parents. Stepchildren wanted nonresidential parent involvement and parenting, and at the same time they resisted it, often finding communication to be awkward and challenging. In addition, stepchildren wanted open and intimate communication with their nonresidential parents, yet they found openness to be problematic and managed these contradictory demands via segmentation. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with insights to guide professionals working with stepfamilies and adults co-parenting children to better understand and interact in ways that promote healthy stepfamilies.

When Stepfathers Claim Stepchildren: A Conceptual Analysis

AbstractGuided by social constructionist and symbolic interactionist perspectives and a grounded theory method, my conceptual analysis explores stepfathers’ experiences with claiming stepchildren as their own. Using in‐depth interviews with a diverse sample of 36 stepfathers, my analysis focuses on paternal claiming as a core category and generates 10 properties relevant to this social psychological phenomenon: timing, degree of deliberativeness, degree of identity conviction, paternal role range, solo‐shared identity, mindfulness, propriety work, naming, seeking public recognition, and biological children as benchmarks. In addition, I consider how five conditions may influence stepfathers’ perceptions of stepchildren. My analysis reveals a number of sensitizing concepts for studying stepfathers’ efforts to develop a sense of group belonging and a fatherlike identity.

Stepchildren's Perceptions of Noncustodial Mothers and Noncustodial Fathers: Differences in Socioemotional Involvement and Associations With Adolescent Adjustment Problems.

Caucasian stepchildren (aged 10-18) in the Nonshared Environment and Adolescent Development (NEAD) project rated noncustodial (NC) parents' socioemotional involvement. Stepfamilies had been together at least 5 years. Adolescents with NC mothers (n = 56) reported more phone calls, mail, overnight visits, and social support than adolescents with NC fathers (n = 143). The association between perceived social support and adolescent adjustment was compared for NC mothers versus NC fathers by using structural equation modeling; the association was stronger for NC mothers. No effects for sex of child or interactions of sex of child/sex of NC parent were obtained. NC fathers might increase their influence in adolescents' lives by behaving more like NC mothers (more frequent phone calls, overnights, etc.).

Young Adults' Perceptions of Stepchildren

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of young adults regarding children from stepfamilies and biological families. A total of 140 university students rated the family position labels brother, sister, stepbrother, and stepsister on nine bipolar evaluative adjectives. The results revealed that sisters were perceived more positively than stepsisters and brothers more positively than stepbrothers. As the number of children who will spend at least part of their childhood in a stepfamily continues to increase, changes in how society views stepchildren are needed.

The Effect of Stepfamily Status on Impressions of Children's Report Card Information

This study was designed to compare university students' perceptions of stepchildren to perceptions of children from intact, biological families. Two hundred and eleven participants were asked to view an 8-year-old child's report card. Participants were given background information that indicated that the child lived with his mother and father (or mother and stepfather). The participants were then asked to rate their first impressions of the child's scholastic, social, and emotional functioning, and make predictions about the child's behaviour in school. The results indicated that male (but not female) participants rated stepchildren less positively than biological children with respect to their social and emotional functioning. Scholastic functioning was not influenced by family status information, nor was the child's predicted behaviour in school. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for stepchildren in today's society.

Stepchildren's Perceptions of Their Parents

Abstract In this study, attitudes of adolescent stepchildren toward their parents were examined. Questions used by Bowerman and Irish (1962) were included to determine if there had been changes in stepparent-child relations, given the social and demographic shifts of the past two to three decades. Conclusions were that (a) there are few differences in how stepsons and stepdaughters perceive their relationships to their stepparents; (b) the stepdaughter-stepfather relationship appears to be less emotionally close than other stepparent-child dyads; (c) stepchildren do not feel more distant from stepmothers than stepfathers; (d) in general, stepchildren perceive themselves to be at least moderately close to their stepparents; and (e) length of time residing in a stepfamily household and cause of dissolution of previous family does not affect stepparent-child closeness. The results are discussed in light of common approaches to stepfamily research, and implications for future research are drawn.

Differences in Stepchildren's Perceptions of Their Stepfathers and Natural Fathers:

This paper presents results of a study of children's perceptions of their stepfathers and natural fathers with a comparative group of children's percepetions from intact families. The findings suggest significant differences between stepchildren and the control children in their perceptions of their natural fathers and their stepfathers. Children from stepfamilies tended to perceive both their natural fathers and their stepfathers more negatively and less positively than did the children from intact families. These results suggest useful implications for clinical treatment of conflicted stepfamilies in family therapy.