“Money, frequently cited as the biggest source of stress in family life, is often an even more challenging matter for members of stepfamilies”
Statistically, in our world today, half of all marriages will end in divorce. About fifty-percent of our population will also live in a stepfamily environment. In other words, more than half of the American families today, are now or eventually will be in involved in one or more stepfamily situations during their life according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 1990. The “U.S. Bureau decided to discontinue providing estimates of marriage, divorce, and remarriage, except for those that are available from our current census. Thus many of our current estimates were derived from the 1990 census and earlier sources” (Step Family Fact Sheet, 1). Therefore the exact statistics in regards to stepfamilies today may be more or less from the estimated fifty- percent.
Stepfamilies nowadays consist of many family members and are very complex. “Today’s stepfamily consists of you, me, your kids, my kids, our kids, your ex’es, my ex’es, even our ex’es new mates, and all the kin of these various folks. Stepfamilies give a new meaning to the concept of complex family relationships” (Hildebrand, 255). For that reason, the interactions within this family unit can be complicated and uncomfortable. There are many changes, positive and/or negative, that stepfamilies try to adapt to. For instance, adults take on new parenting roles and children take on new roles as well, such as a new stepparent or sibling. The parents and/or children may be required to relocate into a completely different house in a completely new neighborhood or city, which leads to separation issues with their nuclear family. With all these issues at hand it is obvious that this can be very stressful for everyone. Even more, this causes even more stresses, such as money.
An ecological factor such as economics can have a huge impact on stepfamilies. This means financial decisions within a stepfamily have more people contributing to economic decisions. In turn, this can lead to more rules, emotions, and financial wishes and requests. When a couple decides to marry, especially for their second, third, or fourth time, it only brings in past experiences into the picture. Both spouses in the stepfamily most likely are in the work force as well. This also leads to the assumption th...
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...ely on each other, and all members of a stepfamily adapt to rely on each other. As the entire family is going through change. In conclusion, money is powerful in our society and always has been throughout history. Therefore money has a major impact on families and research show’s that it may even have a larger impact on stepfamilies.
References
Clark, Janet A., Leigh, Sharon. Financial Decision Making in Stepfamilies.
Retrieved from http://www.muextension.missori.edu/xplor/hesguide/ humanrel/gh6603.htm Facts and FAQ’s- Stepfamily Fact Sheet. Retrieved from http://www.saafamilies.org/faqs/index.htm Fletcher, N. Cynthia, (1992). Living in Stepfamilies: Making Financial
Decisions. Iowa State University.
Hildebrand, Verna (2000). Knowing and Serving Diverse Families (2nd ed.).
New Jersey: Upper Saddle River.
Klein, David M., White, James M.(1996). Family Theories.
Pill, Cynthia J.(1990). Stepfamilies: Redefining the Family. Family
Relations, 39, 2, 186-201.
Stepfamilies: Meeting Challenges and Building Strengths (1995).
Research Review. Retrieved from http://montana.edu/wwwhd/family/ f1195res.html Keri Smith
CFD335-Booth
Stepfamilies: Economic Factors
Now, the number of ex-stepfamilies is increase so fast. Gootman (2012) focuses on those families or blended families who have gone through a divorce. She had done several interviews with people who stay in stepfamily to find out the answer for question “How do they deal with ex-stepfamilies?” The interview results shows that most people do not keep closed relationship with their ex-stepfamily member. Another survey result by the Pew Research Center shows that the second marriages have higher divorce rate than the first marriage (Ch 13, P415). Some of them broken their new relationship because their partner’s ex-steps. In the college students opinion, some of them never thinking let their stepparent be part of family; some of them considered let their stepparents to be...
In this millennial it is very common to see a divided family. People get married, discover their differences and often divorce. Yet, with divorce comes many decisions and often a messy outcome. While this may take a toll on a family, remarriage is another issue of it’s own. “Step parents” is what they call them; although no one is quit sure what the word “step” truly insinuates. The sacristy of a marriage and the bond of a family is metaphorically protected by the beamed structure of a home. It isn’t until you read “Stepdaughters” by Max Apple that you catch a glimpse of the interior complications and obstacles, divorced families often face. The author seamlessly paints the very common mother and teenage daughter tension many families endure. Yet, the story is uniquely told by “stepfather number three trying to stay on the sideline” (132). The author focuses on a few issues that a family (divorced or not) may face: overbearing control, lack of trust, and unwanted change. He does this, by use of temporal setting – the dreaded teenage years – and situation – the exhausted disagreement between the mother and daughter.
I have chosen to use an article from The Huffington Post called How Stepmoms Can Cope With ‘Biological Jealousy’. This is a meaningful article that is intended to explain the struggles that stepmoms and their stepchildren often face. It is noted that the main struggle of the relationship between a step parent and their step children is “Biological Jealousy”. Often the step parent tries to replace or become the primary Parent. The article provides solutions for increasing the moral and creating a stronger bond between children and their step parent.
Patricia Hyjer Dyk talks about poverty and how it complicates the family life. On the other hand, Stephanie Coontz focuses on how families have changed from the 20th century to the 21st century; focusing on the negative and positive aspects of both. Dyke doesn’t talk much about how the family system and the earning system has changed, while Coontz focuses on that; however, in both the authors’ articles, women and their role in the society are significantly covered. According to Dyk, the family life has become complicated because of a number of stressors. These stressors include the difficulties that people face on a daily basis, in the shape of physical, emotional and psychological needs.
In attempting to understand the blended family system, one would be remised if we did not first look at, and understand primarily what a family system dynamic is. Unfortunately, this is a theory that once had very clear cut lines; today those lines are a little burred and more subjective than ever before. Given that the family is an ever changing system with fluid boarders, this author will illustrate some finite distinctions that may separate the typical family system from a blended family system.
The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, making it a solid majority today. This alteration of the "traditional" structure of the family is a channel for other changes that may soon occur.
Within his book The Smart Stepfamily: 7 Steps to a Healthy Family, Ron Deal (2014) presents a realistic approach to strengthening stepfamilies through focusing on each individual family member’s needs. Real-world scenarios along with integrating family therapy and biblical truth are used in exploring the many issues that stepfamilies resolve. The crux of Deal’s advice is the need to modify expectations from forming a rapidly blended family to integrating a slow-cooked approach that allows for the time and the coarse hardships that are experienced in developing a healthy stepfamily relationships.
Cohabitation, over the last two decades has gone from being a relatively uncommon social phenomenon to a commonplace one and has achieved this prominence quite quickly. A few sets of numbers convey both the change and its rapidity. The percentage of marriages preceded by cohabitation rose from about 10% for those marrying between 1965 and 1974 to over 50% for those marrying between 1990 and 1994 (Bumpass and Lu 1999, Bumpass & Sweet 1989); the percentage is even higher for remarriages. Secondly, the percentage of women in their late 30s who report having cohabited at least once rose from 30% in 1987 to 48% in 1995. Given a mere eight year tome window, this is a striking increase. Finally, the proportion of all first unions (including both marriages and cohabitation) that begin as cohabitations rose from 46% for unions formed between 1980 and 1984 to almost 60% for those formed between 1990 and 1994 (Bumpass and Lu 1999).
Approximately forty-five percent of all people in the United States will marry divorce and remarry. Because of this statistic and the rising rates of divorce this is also making the number of step families to rise in the country. Remarrying can be very difficult most of the time and this may make your step family a complex institution. A complex institution is an institution that affects people in more than one way. For example, it may cause physical and mental issues and stress.
Pasley, Kay. “The Long-Term Effects Of Divorce.” Stepfamilies 16.1 (1996): 11. MAS Ultra – School Edition.Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
There was a time when women typically maintained the home and raised children while the husbands were the sole bread-winners for the family finances. However, times have changed and so have women’s rights and expectations for divorce, education, an...
1. Review of the literature on research with emphasis on children and the relationship with stepparents
A blended family is typically seen as one of divorce, or widow, and remarriage with or without kids. These types of family systems tend to face more unique challenges than most. They face struggles such as the trauma of divorce, children getting used to a new parent that has not always been around, and new siblings that have not always been around. This can cause added stress to an already stressed family system. Socioeconomic status plays a role in every family. However, in blended families is can play a more prominent role. Marrying up or down in socioeconomic status, losing an income, adding an income, and marrying out of financial necessity can all have a profound impact on the development of not only the children involved but the family as a whole.
walked them down the aisle. Although there are some individuals and/or children out there that may not want stepfamilies to work out, they sabotage relationship hoping orignal parents will reunite. According to the powerpoint lecture, stepfather who adopt their stepchildren tend to be more involved with them than those who do not as well as close ties to stepfathers
For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents? Does a young boy need a father figure around? Does the government provide help for single parents? What role do step-parents and step-siblings play? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that properly raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family but should be more focused on the process