Summary and synthesis of research on what works in stepfamily childrearing

• 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.12674

RESEARCH

Summary and synthesis of research on what works in

stepfamily childrearing

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, United States

2

Department of Human Development and Family Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States

3

Department of Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego, San Diego, California, United States

Correspondence

Lawrence Ganong, Human Development and

Family Science, University of Missouri–

Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.

Email: ganongl@missouri.edu

Abstract

Objective: The purposes of this review are (a) to summa-

rize holistically and synthesize research evidence about

“what works”regarding effective stepfamily childrearing

(i.e., behaviors that contribute to children’s physical, cog-

nitive, and emotional well-being) drawn from three

research reviews and (b) explore implications of a “what

works”approach in family scholarship.

Background: This project was designed to identify research-

based evidence about effective childrearing in stepfamilies

by parents, stepparents, and coparents.

Method: We examined 2338 reports, identifying 119 studies

yielding empirical evidence about “what works”in step-

family childrearing.

Results: On the basis of our analyses of these studies, we

find that researchers have found multiple ways children in

stepfamilies are effectively raised and that stepchildren ben-

efit when (a) parentsexercise parental control by disciplin-

ing and setting rules early, (b) stepparents focus on bonding

with stepchildren while parents work at maintaining close

bonds with children, (c) stepparents and parents agree on

rules and roles, (d) coparenting subsystems work collabora-

tively, and (e) parents and stepparents engage in activities

to facilitate family cohesion.

Conclusions: Studies from a “what works”perspective were

conducted using a variety of methods and approaches.

Effective childrearing in stepfamilies benefits individual,

relational, and stepfamily well-being and effective stepfam-

ily functioning. There are multiple ways to effectively raise

Received: 17 April 2021Revised: 30 September 2021Accepted: 12 December 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12674

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2022;71:935–952. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 935

children in stepfamilies. There are still things we do not

know about childrearing in stepfamilies, however.

Implications: Focusing on resilience processes and positive

family dynamics yield findings transferable to real-world

applications. Many areas of family scholarship would ben-

efit from a what works perspective.

KEYWORDS

childrearing, remarriage, stepchild, stepfamilies, stepparent, systematic

review

Stepfamily research has grown considerably over the past several decades, but it remains true

that most researchers have focused on stepfamily deficits, problems, and challenges (e.g., see

decade reviews by Coleman & Ganong, 1990; Coleman et al., 2000; Raley & Sweeney, 2020;

Sweeney, 2010). Often in these deficit approaches to studying stepfamily dynamics and relation-

ships, researchers have compared stepfamilies to first marriage nuclear families as the ideal or

standard, emphasizing how stepfamilies are different and less functional (Ganong &

Coleman, 2017,2018; Papernow, 2018). However, a small but growing number of scholars have

employed normative–adaptive perspectives that recognize stepfamilies “can function well and

be effective living environments for children and adults”(Ganong & Coleman, 2017, p. 36). As

part of our research program on stepfamily resilience processes, we have conducted literature

reviews that emphasize the practical implications of research—that is, the “so, what?”questions

(Ganong & Coleman, 1990). The “What Works”in Childrearing in Stepfamilies Project identi-

fied research findings about effective childrearing from a normative–adaptive perspective.

THE WHAT WORKS PROJECT

In the What Works in Childrearing in Stepfamilies Project, we examined 2338 articles, book

chapters, and books to locate 119 studies that contained findings about effective childrearing by

parents, stepparents, and coparenting subsystems using a resilience perspective (see Ganong,

Coleman, et al., 2021, for a comprehensive description of the project methods). We defined

“what works”regarding effective stepfamily childrearing as behaviors that contribute to chil-

dren’s physical, cognitive, and emotional wellbeing. The objectives of the project were to

(a) examine research evidence on effective childrearing in stepfamilies, (b) draw “best practice”

guidelines for effective childrearing in stepfamilies, and (c) identify gaps in what is known about

effective childrearing in stepfamilies. This project was motivated by our interests in resilience

processes in families, particularly in stepfamilies and other marginalized family forms, and a

belief that scholars of family research and practice can learn as much from focusing on resil-

ience and functionality as they can by attending to problems and pathology. We defined resil-

ience as the capacities “of a system to adapt successfully to significant challenges that threaten

its function, viability, or development”(Masten, 2018, p. 12). This definition allowed us to

examine multiple system levels (e.g., individual, relationships, families, communities) and to

conceptualize capacities flexibly. The What Works Project resulted in three systematic reviews

of three bodies of literature: effective parenting in stepfamilies (Sanner et al., in press), effective

stepparenting (Ganong, Coleman, et al., 2021), and effective coparenting in stepfamilies (both

within and across stepfamily households; Ganong, Sanner, et al., 2021).

The main purpose of this summary and synthesis article was not to replicate prior discussion

sections of the three review papers in this featured special section (Ganong, Coleman, et al.,

2021; Ganong, Sanner, et al, 2021 ; Sanner et al., in press) but to examine holistically the

936 FAMILY RELATIONS