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Publication #FAR4008

 

Does Having a Baby Cement Stepfamilies?1

Suzanna Smith2

Figure 1. 
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If you have been divorced and remarry, you may bring children from your first marriage into your new family, and you may have a baby in your new marriage with hopes to "cement" your stepfamily bonds.

What happens to the relationship between stepchildren and parents when these new half-siblings come into the household? In a recent study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, Susan Stewart of Iowa State University used data from the National Survey of Families and Households to find out how the birth of a child impacts involvement with stepchildren over time.

Comparing stepfamilies and biological families, Stewart found that, in general, stepparents are somewhat less involved than parents with only biological children. However, for both step- and original two-parent families, parental involvement declined as children got older. Having a baby did not significantly increase parents' involvement with stepchildren or biological children. Instead, both biological and stepparents seemed to "shift their attention from older children to the new child" (Stewart, 2005, p. 470).

If you are in a stepfamily and are thinking about having a baby to bring your new family closer together, consider that this may be a rewarding experience, but that it may not bring your stepchildren closer. That will take spending time doing things as a family, lots of open communication, a strong marriage, patience, and plenty of time to get to know each other.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

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References

Pasley, K. & Moorefield, B. S. (2005). Stepfamilies: Changes and challenges. In M. Coleman and L. H. Ganong (Eds.), Handbook of Contemporary Families (pp. 317-331). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Stewart, S. (2005). How the birth of a child affects involvement with stepchildren. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 461-473.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR4008, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 236. Published on EDIS September 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Suzanna Smith, associate professor, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.