children from previous unions, creating stepparents
or stepchildren. The presence of a stepparent, step-
sibling, or half sibling identifies a blended family.
Half siblings share one biological parent, while
stepsiblings do not have any biological parents in
common.
Demographic Trends of the 1990’s Family struc-
tures in the United States changed considerably
from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. Declining marriage
rates, increased childbearing outside of marriage,
and growing divorce rates led to the prevalence of
blended family forms. During the 1990’s, the pro-
portion of children living in blended families grew.
In 1991, 9 percent of children living with two par-
ents in the United States lived in a blended family. By
2001, the percentage had increased to 14.6 percent.
Many scholars feel that these percentages are low be-
cause the U.S. Census Bureau estimates only reflect
the household a child lives in, not the entire network
of family ties.
In 1991, more children living in blended families
lived with a half sibling (50.6 percent of children liv-
ing in blended families; 11 percent of all children),
compared to a stepsibling and/or stepparent (23.5
percent of blended families; 8 percent of all chil-
dren) arrangement. Data from 1991 suggest that a
higher percentage of black children (20 percent)
lived in blended families than did white or Hispanic
children (14 percent).
In 2001, the percent of blended families did not
vary by race except for Asian households. White
(14.7 percent), black (16.5 percent), Hispanic (14.2
percent), and Native American (17.3 percent)
households reported similar percentages of chil-
dren living in blended families. Only 5.1 percent of
Asian children lived in blended families, because of
lower rates of out-of-wedlock childbearing and di-
vorce in the Asian population.
In 2001 as in 1991, the most common type of
blending was the presence of half siblings. About 45
percent of children in blended families (10 percent
of all children) reported half siblings only. Nearly 23
percent of children in blended families (7 percent
of all children) live with stepparent-only family ar-
rangements.
Blended Family Adaptations In spite of structural
similarities to intact biological families (two parents
and children), blended families differed consider-
ably. Blending families increased the complexity of
family relationships, and stepfamilies faced addi-
tional unique structural challenges. Most members
of the blended family have lost at least one impor-
tant primary relationship, and usually one biologi-
cal parent lived outside the household. At least one
parental-child bond came before the relationship
between the new partners. Many children in
blended families were also members of a noncusto-
dial parent’s household.
Research in the 1990’s focused on the blended
family as an incomplete institution within which
family rules and roles, particularly the stepparental
ones, were not clearly defined. In blended families,
taken-for-granted rules and well-established roles of
the traditional family no longer applied. Stepfamily
research suggested that stepfamilies have different
challenges and opportunities than intact biological
ones, but described higher levels of adaptability
within the family unit and reported similar levels of
parental happiness, degree of conflict, and number
of positive family relationships. Studies showed that
adjusting to stepfamily life was a process that took
two to three years to complete. The most difficult
challenges facing stepfamilies often dealt with realiz-
ing stepfamilies were different from intact nuclear
families and that different did not imply inferior. A
substantial proportion of stable, long-term stepfami-
lies functioned similarly to intact first marriages, al-
though blended families reported lower levels of co-
hesion than intact biological ones.
Impact The shift in family structure during the
1990’s including more blended families called for
redefinition of the family. The traditional family, two
biological parents with children, was not the most
common familial form.
In the 1990’s, the greater number of blended
families raised social awareness of the diversity of
family forms in the United States. Considerable me-
dia and academic attention was devoted to how
blended families and intact biological families dif-
fered and were the same.
The blended family in the 1990’s was one of the
fastest-growing family types in the United States.
The Census Bureau estimated that blended families
would be the most common family form in the
United States by 2010.
Further Reading
Coleman, Marilyn, et al. “Reinvestigating Remar-
riage: Another Decade of Progress.”Journal ofThe Nineties in America Blended families 105