"You're not the boss of me!" - discipline within stepfamilies

Abstract

Stepparents have often been vilified in literature and fairy tales; however, research about stepfamilies and stepchildren is relatively limited. Second marriages have a higher rate of failure than first marriages and those with children have the highest failure rate. Family systems theories focus on interactions between family members and can inform the challenges facing stepfamilies. When children pre-date the union, conflicting loyalties, values and traditions must be negotiated at the beginning of the relationship. A major source of potential conflict within these families is discipline. This study examined factors that could influence the types of discipline used within stepfamilies. Stepparents completed an on-line questionnaire (N = 63). Results indicate that the child's age when meeting the stepparent, the number of past relationships and the percentage of time spent with the other biological parent influence the types of discipline used. The role of the stepparent was perceived very differently by the stepparents and the stepchildren.