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This study contributes to the growing literature on factors associated with the formation of close relationships between stepfathers and stepchildren. The authors extend prior research by using nationally representative data from Add Health (N = 179) to examine how factors existing prior to stepfamily formation are associated with the quality of stepfather-adolescent ties within the first year after married stepfathers join the household. Results from structural equation models revealed that both the quality of the mother-adolescent relationship and adolescent adjustment prior to stepfamily formation were significantly associated with the perceived quality of adolescents' relationships with their stepfathers.
Key Words: father-child relations, mother-child relations, parent-adolescent relations, postdivorce parenting, stepfamilies, structural equation modeling.
The general instability of child-bearing unions in the United States, combined with the tendency for parents to form new partnerships following relationship disruption, means that stepfamilies have become a central feature of the American family system. Kreider and Ellis (2011) reported that almost 8% of all U.S. children lived with a stepparent in 2009, and about 30% of U.S. children will live with a stepparent at some time before reaching adulthood (Bumpass, Raley, & Sweet, 1995). The majority of stepfamilies involve residential stepfathers (Stewart, 2007), who were the focus of the current study.
This study builds on recent research on factors that are associated with the formation of close relationships between stepfathers and stepchildren (e.g., Ganong, Coleman, & Jamison, 2011; Jensen & Shafer, 2013; King, 2009; King, Thorsen, & Amato, 2014). In contrast to earlier studies that focused on differences between stepfamilies and two-parent biological families, more recent studies have focused on variation within stepfamilies. Stepfamily-focused research, like the current study, investigates processes unique to stepfamilies (e.g., the presence of stepsiblings and the number of years in a stepfamily) that may produce positive or negative stepfamily outcomes. In this study we drew on Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth) and examined adolescents who transitioned from single-mother households to married mother-stepfather households between waves. Our goal was to use variables measured prior to the entry of stepfathers to predict the quality of stepchild-stepfather relationships during the first year after stepfamily formation.
BACKGROUND AND CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVE
Understanding adolescents' relationships with stepfathers in newly formed...