Chapter 13
literature, is not without stereotypes,
which often bring to mind images of fairy
tales with “wicked stepmothers”
(Claxton–Oldfield, 2000).
On the surface, remarriage sounds like
the solution to the problems single-parent
families face. Remarriage does provide
some solutions, but it also creates new
challenges:
In the next section, we will examine
some of the complexities, challenges, and
rewards of life in a stepfamily. The
following statistics from the Census
Bureau help to illustrate the complexity
of North American families.
The Statistics of RemarriageEstimating the number of stepfamilies
in the United States is a complex task for
several reasons. One, the definitions
researchers use to define stepfamilies vary.
The “official” estimates have been pieced
together from the U.S. Census, the
National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS) and various national surveys of
American families. Due to budget
limitations, the U.S. Census and the
NCHS are no longer producing detailed
reports of the trends in marriage, divorce
and remarriage. Therefore, stepfamily
estimates currently use data from the
1990s, making estimates outdated and
underestimated (Stewart, 2007).
According to 2001 data, 15% of all
children under the age of 18 are living in
stepfamilies, and 1 in 10 households
containing children are stepfamilies
(Kreider & Fields, 2005). In 2004, about
6.4 million children, just under one tenth
of the nation’s children were living with
one stepparent and one biological parent
(Kreider, 2008).
Stepfamilies are formed in several ways.
We most commonly think of a stepfamily as
one formed when a parent remarries after a
divorce.One or both parents may bring a
child or children from a previous marriage
into the new relationship.Stepfamilies are
also formed when a widow or widower with
children marries after the death of their
spouse.However,a growing number ofA stepfamily is assaulted on all sides
by difficult and often divisive
questions. How much control
should a stepparent have over a
stepchild? How much authority
should a nonresidential parent exert
over a child? How should a difficult
former spouse be handled? How
does an “ours” baby change the
emotional dynamic in a stepfamily?
Why is there a lack of “honeymoon
effect” during the first years of
stepfamily life? (Bray & Kelly, 1999)