Teens in the most complicated family arrangement of all — those with both half- and step siblings — like the 1968 movie “Yours, Mine and Ours” remade in 2005 — fared better than those who live with only step-siblings or only half-siblings. Tillman theorized that the parents’ decision in these more complicated families to have a biological child together may reflect a stable relationship.

The study, published in the journal Social Science Research, found boys living with half- or step-siblings appear to have the hardest time coping, with average GPAs one-quarter of a letter grade lower than boys who live with only full siblings.

Girls with half- or step-siblings also had lower GPAs than those living with only full siblings, but the difference was much smaller. Boys and girls in these types of families also had more school behavioral problems, such as trouble paying attention, getting homework done and getting along with teachers and other students.

In an FSU news release, Tillman commented and theorized that:

 ”We cannot assume that over time, children will naturally ‘adjust’ to the new roles and relationships that arise when families are blended,” she said. “This research indicates that the effects of new stepsiblings or half siblings may actually become more negative over time or, at the least, remain consistently negative.”

“Lower social and financial investments may signal to children a lack of parental interest and lower expectations for academic achievement and college attendance,” she said. “In turn, youth in stepfamilies may be less likely to get academic assistance when needed, less likely to work for higher grades and more likely to act out at school.”

The study also drew attention from the Super Nanny website. What is truly scary is that in the study – relationships among stepsiblings tended not to improve with time – it should be noted that only 1% of the youth in the study fell into the category of having both step-siblings and half-siblings.

I’m curious to see how long she looked at those relationships – since many of us stepmoms hang our hopes on “things getting better” with time. My experience has been that our lives and my personal relationships with my stepchildren have improved with time, but I also did not bring biological children into my marriage, which eliminated the competition factor.

I would also be curious about how the length of custody arrangements impacted the results – are we talking step-kids rotating households on the weekends, on 60/40, 50/50 or living 100% of the time alongside step-siblings? And how involved is the other parent in the child’s life?

Stepfamilies – I think these results are a call to us to talk about how we can provide more support for children living in stepfamilies and epecially more support for their education and well-being.

Stepmoms out there – what do you think about this study? I welcome your comments to this blog! 

The Orlando Sentinel is also inviting comments about the study on its blog.

The researchers had some interesting things to say:

While stepparents of either gender tend to be aloof, stepdads are more likely than stepmoms to fight with teenage children, especially if the child is a boy, says Erini Flouri, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Education at the University of London. Stepdads were more likely than biological fathers to see their stepteens as hyperactive or badly behaved, the researchers found.

Experts cited in the article also confirmed the importance of the bio-parent and stepparent being on the same page when it comes to discipline.

Child development experts say that teens often do behave worse for a stepdad than for a biological dad. If kids sense that their mother isn’t going to give unqualified support to the stepdad in an argument, they are more likely to resist efforts at discipline.

There are so many dynamics in a stepfamily. It’s great to see some research being done about stepfathers, as there is very little information available . A case in point – I have a few links for stepdads and books listed on my site. If you know about new links for stepdads, please drop me a note or post a comment.

The Oregon Center for Applied Science, Inc. with funding from the National Institutes of Health, is conducting a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of a new multi-media educational stepfamily program. It will train parents in stepfamily relationships in effective behavioral parenting and teach them how to deal with issues specific to stepfamilies.

We are currently working to recruit 300 stepparents, of diverse heritage and race, to participate in the study. Participants will try a new parenting educational program and fill out up to 3 online questionnaires.

Each participant will receive up to $200 for their time.

To qualify, participants must be…

- a Parent or stepfamily in a stepfamily
- married for 5 years or less to their current spouse
- share responsibility for a child 11-15 years old that lives with them at least part-time
- be able to read and understand English
- have not taken a parenting or stepparenting class in the last 3 months
- have an active email account and for the next 6 months computer access with a high-speed Internet connection
- reside in the U.S.

To see if you qualify go to: http://study.newstepfamily.com

According to researcher Valarie King, it boils down to the quality of the relationship. The amount of time spent with a child, was not nearly as important as the quality of the relationship with the child. Researchers found that the closer the father-child relationship, the better the child was doing.

King’s research looked at adolescence and how the father-child relationship affected health, behavior, grades and delinquency. 

Although some previous research had found that the stepparent-stepchild relationship could be difficult and that stepfathers may not positively influence stepchild well-being – King’s research found that a close relationship between a stepfather and his stepchildren could be very positive for the children and their development. She also found that stepchildren could have positive relationships with stepmothers too.

Conflict between parents was also detrimental to a child’s positive growth and development, and King suggested that children might be better off with only one parent in their lives if the relationship between the two parents remains hostile and disruptive to the child.

Clearly, a lot of adults carry scars from their upbringing into adulthood. For many, those wounds are healed through new relationships as adults. But not everyone makes it – there are a few people who never recover from a difficult childhood and remain stuck in the muck of a bad past.

These findings serve as a warning to stepfamilies. Strive to do what is best for children, and help them grow up to be competent, and well-adjusted adults.

We would also like to learn more about the possible marital struggles you may have experienced in your remarriage and/or stepfamily, including struggles with financial issues, in hopes that we may be able to educate future couples about what to expect going into remarriage. Only people in remarriages and stepfamilies can help us truly understand the joys and stresses of these relationships.

You can take the survey online. I hope you and your spouse will take the time to complete the survey. Let’s help him with his research and help all of us learn more and equip future stepfamilies to be successful. David also adds a few more details:

All of the information that you provide on the online survey will be treated as private and kept confidential. It will not be shared with anyone unless legally required. Your name will NOT appear on any questionnaires. You will be asked to come up with your own 4 digit code number, which will be used to organize the information you provide. If you have any questions I invite you to contact me directly at 334.844.3299 or schradg@auburn.edu.

Responses will be anonymous, and are being collected by Amanda DeSio, a doctoral candidate at the State University of New York – Buffalo. She will be using the results for her doctoral dissertation.

Participating in professional research like this helps improve services, advocacy, and support for stepfamilies – so take the survey today.