Effective stepparenting: Empirical evidence of what works

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Lawrence Ganong,Marilyn Coleman,Caroline Sanner,Steven Berkley
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12624

RESEARCH

Effective stepparenting: Empirical evidence of what

works

Lawrence Ganong

1

|Marilyn Coleman

1

|Caroline Sanner

2

|

Steven Berkley

3

1

Department of Human Development and

Family Science, University of Missouri–

Columbia, Columbia, Missouri, USA

2

Department of Human Development and

Family Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,

Virginia, USA

3

Department of Psychological Sciences,

University of San Diego, San Diego,

California, USA

Correspondence

Lawrence Ganong, Human Development and

Family Science, University of Missouri–

Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA.

Email: ganongl@missouri.edu

Abstract

Objective: We sought to identify research evidence about

stepparents’childrearing behaviors that contribute to step-

children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional well-

being to draw best practices guidelines for stepfamily

interventions.

Background: Stepparents’relationships with stepchildren

are important predictors of individual, relational, and step-

family well-being and effective family functioning. Most

researchers have examined problems in step-relationships,

but knowing what stepparents do that works in helping

their stepchildren develop can help inform professionals

who support and educate stepfamily members.

Method: We analyzed the results of 67 research studies

containing empirical evidence of effective childrearing of

stepchildren by stepparents to extract evidence-based state-

ments about what stepparents do that “works”to enhance

the positive development of stepchildren.

Results: We found that researchers examined two broad

topics: (a) developing positive stepparent–stepchild rela-

tionships, and (b) developing clear roles for stepparents.

Conclusions: On the basis of this review, we found that

stepparents developed close relationships with stepchildren

by spending time together, engaging in one-on-one activi-

ties, having fun together, working together, caregiving,

giving tangible support, advocating for stepchildren, com-

municating positive messages, conveying vulnerability,

talking every day, and leaving discipline to parents early in

relationships. A variety of stepparent roles are effective, if

they meet stepfamily members’needs. Flexibility in role

performance is linked to more satisfying relationships.

Stepchildren’s receptivity to stepparents is also important

in effective stepparenting.

Received: 21 January 2021Revised: 8 September 2021Accepted: 16 September 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12624

© 2021 National Council on Family Relations.

900 Family Relations. 2022;71:900–917.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

Implications: Family professionals can help stepparents

strategize about engaging in relationship-building behav-

iors tailored for their stepchildren. Family professionals

also can assist stepfamilies negotiate roles for stepparents

that are accepted by all stepfamily members.

KEYWORDS

childrearing, stepchild, stepparent, systematic review

Many children and adolescents have stepparents, and many adults have stepchildren. Although

remarriage rates have been falling for decades (e.g., Canada 2011 General Social Survey, 2015;

Schweizer, 2019), the number of children residing with a remarried or unmarried cohabiting

stepparent has remained steady at 9% to 10% in the United States (Payne, 2019), Canada

(Gath, 2016), England and Wales (Gath, 2016), New Zealand (Gath, 2016), and Australia

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). In the United States, 78% of unmarried cohabiting fam-

ily households include stepchildren (Eickmeyer, 2019), and 44% of all U.S. stepchildren live

with unmarried cohabiting (step)parents (Payne, 2019). Additionally, an unknown number of

children residing with single parents also spend some time in a stepparent household, given legal

preferences for shared parental custody after separation and divorce. For example, in the 2006–

2010 and 2011–2012 samples of the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth, 24% of women’s

first unions (marriage or cohabiting), 65% of second unions, and 74% of third unions created

stepfamilies (i.e., not households but family systems; Guzzo, 2016).

Stepparents are adults whose spouses or cohabiting partners have a child or children from

prior relationships. A stepchild is the offspring of an individual whose spouse or romantic part-

ner is not the child’s legal or genetic parent. Stepparents and stepchildren are brought together

because of their connections to the biological or adoptive parent. The stepparent–stepchild rela-

tionship, in most cases, is involuntary, at least at the start, created because the stepparent

develops a romantic union with the parent of the stepchildren (Ganong & Coleman, 2017).

The success of the stepfamily, in many respects, hinges on the quality of the stepparent–

stepchild relationships formed: Negative, hostile, or distant bonds create stress for all step family

household members, whereas close and affectionate bonds can serve as sources of comfort and

strength that indirectly affect other stepfamily relationships and the entire stepfamily system

(Crosbie-Burnett, 1984; Ganong et al., 2019; Petren et al., 2019). The stepparent–stepchild rela-

tionship is therefore extremely important in stepfamilies. Given this presumed importance, it is

perhaps not surprising that the processes by which stepparents and stepchildren form relation-

ships with each other has been of interest to many family scholars, particularly to those who

take a resilience approach to examining relational dynamics. In this paper, we review studies in

which effective stepparenting behaviors were investigated.

STUDY CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH ON EFFECTIVE

STEPPARENTING

The sampling strategy, inclusion criteria, and coding and analytic methods for this project may

be found in our overview of the What Works in Childrearing in Stepfamilies Project (Ganong

et al., in press). Of 119 studies in the larger project that contained findings related to what

works in stepfamily childrearing, we identified 67 studies that included at least one finding spe-

cific to effective childrearing of stepchildren by stepparents.

Of the 67 studies, all but six were conducted in the United States (two each in Europe,

Canada, and Australia/New Zealand). The authors of the studies represented several

WHAT WORKS IN STEPFAMILIES901