DO ADULTS IN STEPFAMILIES HAVE WORSE HEALTH

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DO ADULTS IN STEPFAMILIES HAVE WORSE HEALTH?

• Paul Boyle, Zhiqiang Feng, Vernon Gayle, Elspeth
  Graham, Ali Zohoor

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Background

• The second demographic transition (van de Kaa
  1987)
• Fewer and later marriages, rising rates of
  cohabitation, divorce and lone parenthood, and
  later childbirth
• One outcome is a growing number of stepfamilies
  where a parent, whether single, separated,
  widowed or divorced, forms a new marriage or
  partnership
• Despite the rising incidence of stepfamilies
  researchers have been slow to acknowledge the
  importance of such families (Ferri and Smith 1998)

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• Of those marrying during the 1990s, nearly 50
  will end up divorced (Allan 1999)
• Haskey (1994) shows that 12 of British children
  will live in a stepfamily before their sixteenth
  birthday
• About 40 of mothers will experience being a lone
  parent and about 75 of lone mothers will go on
  to form a stepfamily (Ermisch and Francesconi
  2000)
• Nearly 90 of stepfamilies involve children
  living with their mother and a new male partner
  (Finch 2002)

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• Stepfamilies include more and older children than
  first families (Haskey 1994)
• The greater complexity of intra-household
  relationships in stepfamilies provides scope for
  tensions to arise and, perhaps, increases the
  potential for negative health impacts (Kelley
  1995)

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• Numerous studies highlight the strains that
  every-day life in stepfamilies may entail and the
  effects on stepchildrens health and well-being
  (Zeppa and Norem 1993 Pryor and Rodgers 2001)
• Stepchildren experience the breakdown of their
  parents relationship, may feel neglected by the
  biological parent, and may have to divide their
  time between two homes
• Most studies of the effects of remarriage on
  children fail to show a benefit, despite the
  financial advantages that usually result
  (Fergusson et al. 1994 Pagani et al. 1998
  Walper 1995 Duncan and Hoffman 1985 Zill 1988)

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• Various negative outcomes for stepchildren
• Perform worse at school (Pong 1997)
• More at risk for behavioural and developmental
  problems (Wadsworth et al. 1985)
• Higher risk of drinking alcohol, drug abuse and
  problem behaviour (del Carmen et al. 2002)
• Some studies dispute some of the negative impacts
  on stepchildren (McMunn et al. 2001)
• But, the majority of quantitative studies suggest
  that stepchildren are at greater risk of a range
  of problems (Ram and Hou 2003)

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• Considerable literature on the effects of family
  arrangements and marital status on adult health
• Higher mortality rates among the unmarried, those
  who live alone and the divorced (Trovato and
  Lauris 1989)
• More depressive symptoms are apparent among the
  recently separated (Neff and Schluter 1993)
• In some studies, the beneficial effects of
  marriage are found for men but not women (Berkman
  and Syme 1979)
• Lone parents suffer higher levels of mental
  distress than other parents (Keirnan and Mueller
  1998)
• Very few studies examining explicitly the effects
  of living in a stepfamily on stepparents and
  their partners health

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• Stepparents experience is potentially stressful
• Relationship with stepchildren may be difficult
  may be resistant to new additions to the family
• The relationship between the mother/father and
  children often deeply established
• The stepparent may feel jealous of the time their
  partner devotes to her/his children
• Described as polite strangers in the lives of
  partners children (Ganong and Coleman 2004)

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• Partners of stepparents (usually women) may also
  find things stressful
• The mother is responsible for bringing the family
  together
• Axis around which the family revolves devoted
  to making it better for everyone (Horwitz 2001)
• Conflict that arises from their love for their
  children and their new spouse
• Some feel guilt because they are betraying
  their children by remarrying (Papernow 1993)
• Caught between childrens need for stability and
  stepparents needs for change
• May experience problems with previous partner

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Hypotheses

• Stepparents have worse mental health outcomes
  than biological parents in first families
• The partners of stepparents have worse mental
  health outcomes than biological parents in first
  families
• The presence of a child born to both parents
  reduces the likelihood of poor mental health
  outcomes for both partners in stepfamilies

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Defining stepfamilies
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General Household Survey data

• Annual cross-sectional British survey (since
  1971)
• Large representative sample of 13,000 households
• Individual, family and household information
  provided, including household grid
• Merged data from 2001-02 to 2004-05
• Focus on parents aged 16-59

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Note, without children means children are not
resident in household
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Note, without children means children are not
resident in household
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• Lone parents have worse health than those in
  first families
• Stepparents with, or without, mutual children do
  not have worse health than those in first
  families
• Partners of stepparents have worse health than
  first families, stepparents and lone parents
• However, mutual children appear to attenuate the
  risk of poor health for partners of stepparents

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Limitations

• However, cross-sectional studies cannot control
  adequately for selection effects
• Those who become stepparents (or their partners)
  may be more prone to having poor mental health
  compared to other groups (Amato 2000)
• Coleman et al. (2000) state that more
  longitudinal quantitative studies of the effects
  of stepparenting are required
• Data that allow us to identify complex household
  arrangements and how they change through time

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• We also require attitudinal data
• Although stepfamilies are becoming more common,
  the numbers are too small for a primary survey
  we need to exploit a large-scale secondary data
• Next stage, using the British Household Panel
  Study

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• ESRC funded UPTAP project
• Ali Zohoor (Research Fellow)
• P.Boyle_at_st-andrews.ac.uk
• A.Zohoor_at_dundee.ac.uk