Overview

This book uses data from the Children in Families Study of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The first three chapters provide a profile of the modern stepfamily, a review of research and theory regarding the effects of marital disruption on children, and an examination of the development of competence as it applies to children in general, and to children in stepfamilies. Socialisation, and the relationship between marital disruption, stress and child competence are also examined. The remaining chapters examine the position of children in stepfamilies in greater depth and attempt to answer several questions: how does the competence of stepchildren compare with that of children in nuclear or one-parent families? What is there about some stepfamilies that makes them happy families for the children and what is it about others that makes children unhappy? In what sort of circumstances do stepchildren have high self concepts and in what circumstances is their self concept low?

Contents

• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter One The Modern Stepfamily
• Family Change 
• Divorce 
• Remarriage
• Divorce: First  and second marriages
• The Study 
• The sample
• The Stepfamily-Realities and  Myths   
• "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" 
• Issues to be Examined
• Chapter Two  From Intact Two-Parent Family to Stepfamily
• Trends in theory and  research 
• Attachment theory  and  mother custody 
• Family Change   
• Divorce and  Children 
• Factors affecting child adjustment to divorce   
• Death  of a Parent  
• Stepfamilies  
• Images    
• Stepfathers  
• Children in Stepfamilies 
• Effects of sex and  age of stepchildren 
• The effects of conflict  
• Discussion 
•  Chapter Three  The Development of Competence
•  The Active Child   
• Resources for Competence
• Social structural resources  
• Family  processes as resources 
• "Benign" and  "vicious" circles of socialisation 
• Components of Competence 
• The "competent self"   
• Evaluations of self   
• Child development and  competence  
• "Equipment for competence" 
• Practical skills 
• Educational achievement
• Competence and  Stress 
• Child development and  change  
• Coping and  stress  
• Stepfamilies and child stress   
• Discussion  
•  Chapter Four  The Competence of Children in Stepfamilies
•  "Equipment for Competence"  
• Reading  
• Everyday  skills checklist  
• The "Competent Self'   
• Self concept  
• Control     
• The model     
• Analysis   
• Self Concept     
• Control    
• Cloze Reading   
• Everyday  Skills (Performance)     
• Discussion 
•  Chapter Five  Good Stepfamilies and Bad Stepfamilies
•  Methodology  
• High Self Concept 
• Primary (high self concept)   
• Clare    
• Mandy    
• Secondary (high self concept)    
• Jason  
• Michael   
•  Comparison of age groups (high self concept)    
• Low Self Concept    
• Primary (low self concept)    
• Tim   
• Katherine  
• Secondary (low self concept)    
• Ian   
• James   
• Comparison of age groups (low self concept)     
• Conclusions  
•  Chapter Six Resources in Stepfamilies
•  Structural Family Resources  
• Income    
• Parent education  
• Moving house   
• Home ownership   
• Family Process Resources   
• Mother support   
• Father support   
• Punishment   
• Conflict    
• Family cohesion  
• The marital relationship  
• The power structure  
• Educational aspirations and  expectations   
• The School    
• Family Resources and  Competence  
• Discussion  
• Chapter Seven   The Role of Non-custodial Parents 
•  Contact with  Non-custodial Parents  
• Non-custodial fathers   
• Non-custodial mothers   
• Discussion   
• Chapter Eight Conclusions
• Myths and  Stereotypes  
• Roles in Stepfamilies  
• Family boundaries   
• Schools  
• How different  are stepfamilies?  
• Directions for Future Research 
• Conclusions 
• Appendix 1 Mother support: Scale  items,  scoring conventions and  component loadings
• Appendix 2 Father support: Scale items,  scoring conventions and  component loadings
• Appendix 3 Punishment: Items and  scoring conventions
• Appendix 4 Family cohesion: Items,  scoring conventions and  component loadings  
• References
• Index