CLA 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Telecommuting, Job Sharing, Nuclear Family
28 May 2018
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LEC 12: Stepfamilies and the World of
Work
Chapter 11: The Second Time Around
Remarriage and Stepfamilies
- Stepfamily
- A family where the children are related to one parent but not the other
- 2011: Stepfamilies represent 1 in 8 couples with children
- Simple stepfamily: all children related to one parent but not the other
- complex/blended stepfamily: Variations of the stepfamily form
- Fewer people who are divorced intend to remarry
- However, people may form common-law relationships, without remarrying
- 2006: 26% of women and 37% of men entered into conjugal relationship (married
or common-law) within 3 years of divorce
- Within 20 years, 69% of women and 82% of men had formed new unions
Forming a New Family System
- Three distinct stages in entering and adapting to a second marriage
- Entering the new relationship
- Planning the new marriage and family
- Forming the remarriage family
- One of the main differences between first marriages and second or later ones involves
family boundaries
- Usually happens quicker than the first time around
- One of the main difficulties in remarriage families is that there are too many candidates
for available roles
- Traditional gender roles work against stepfamilies
- A difficulty facing some children in stepfamilies is loss of accustomed roles
- Eg when oldest or youngest child loses position because of stepsibling
- As in any other marriage, partners in remarriages have task of commitment because a
strong couple bond is the foundation for the new family
- Couples in second marriages are less romantic, more realistic, and honest about
difficulties in the marriage
- Fact that parent - child bond began before the marriage, not following it, can create
difficulties in relationships between new spouses
- Ex-spouse can also affect the new marriage
- Relationship between stepparent and stepchild is important for two reasons
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21, 2018
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- Problems in this relationship can eventually destroy the marriage
- Parent will always ally with their child
- The ex can also contribute to the break up
- Adolescents in stepfamilies are at high risk of developing behavioural problems
- Especially if the step parents steps into the role of parent too quickly
- Successful stepparents accomplish two tasks:
- Develop an appropriately affectionate relationship with the child
- Establish themselves as legitimate parental authorities
- Stepparents-stepchild relationship depends somewhat in child’s age and sex
- stepparents tend to be more successful with younger children, who became
attached more readily
- More report positive relationships with boys than girls
- Degree of acceptance of step family members is often affected by loyalty issues
- May reject the step parent
- Might need permission from the biological parent to feel like they can open up
- Discipline is another potential area of conflict
- Eg differences in child-rearing styles
- About half of stepfamilies have a child born to them
- Most common with younger mothers
- Having a baby is related to stepfamily stability
- Mutual child may symbolize family peace and harmony because the birth
demonstrates love and commitment of couple
Stepmothers
- What images are we given of stepmothers
- Are there similar images of stepfathers?
- Given the number of mothers with custody of their children, live-in stepfathers are
probably much more common than live-in stepmothers
- What effect does the image of the stepmother have on a child if he or she acquires one?
Effects of Stepfamily Living on Children
- Step Children fare much like children raised by single mothers
- Have more educational, emotional, behavioral difficulties than children growing
up in original nuclear families
- Need to seperate statistics from individuals
- Many children in stepfamilies are at greater risk for maladjustment and lower self-
esteem
- But do as well as those living with both biological parents
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
A family where the children are related to one parent but not the other. 2011: stepfamilies represent 1 in 8 couples with children. Simple stepfamily: all children related to one parent but not the other complex/blended stepfamily: variations of the stepfamily form. Fewer people who are divorced intend to remarry. However, people may form common-law relationships, without remarrying. 2006: 26% of women and 37% of men entered into conjugal relationship (married or common-law) within 3 years of divorce. Within 20 years, 69% of women and 82% of men had formed new unions. Three distinct stages in entering and adapting to a second marriage. One of the main differences between first marriages and second or later ones involves family boundaries. Usually happens quicker than the first time around. One of the main difficulties in remarriage families is that there are too many candidates for available roles. A difficulty facing some children in stepfamilies is loss of accustomed roles.
