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This study examined gender differences in early adolescents' adaptation to mother-custody stepfamilies and extended previous work that found that girls have more difficulties adjusting to these stepfamilies than do boys. Parent-child interaction was compared in mother-custody stepfamilies and intact families, with a focus on gender-of-child effects on parent-stepparent behavior toward child and child behavior toward parent-stepparent. A 2-wave longitudinal, within-family design with families (n = 26) that had only 1 son and 1 daughter (ages 10-14 at Time 2) was used. A sequential analysis of several different types of behavior was done. The results indicate that girls had more difficulty interacting with stepfathers than sons did. The findings suggest how routine parent-child interaction in the home may contribute to girls' more problematic adjustment to mother-custody stepfamilies.Studies of marital transitions have found significant gender differences in the way children react to life in a mother-custody stepfamily. There is mounting evidence that, in late childhood and early adolescence, daughters have a more intense and sustained negative psychological reaction to their mother's remarriage than do sons (Bray, 1988;Giles-Sims & Crosbie-Burnett, 1989;Hetherington, 1989;Hetherington, Cox, & Cox ; Pink & Wampler, 1985). This difference is somewhat anomalous because daughters tend to adapt to divorce better than sons (e.g., Hetherington et al., 1985), and girls generally cope with stress better than do boys (e.g., Zaslow & Hayes, 1984). Yet the difference has been validated by research showing that divorce is associated with more drug use by boys but not by girls, whereas remarriage is associated with increased drug use by girls but reduced use by boys (Needle, Su 7 & Doherty, 1990). Although several factors influence child adjustment to remarriage (e.g., Emery, 1988), these results suggest that boys and girls may experience the transition and adjustment to remarriage quite differently, independent of other factors. Because of the prevalence of mother-custody stepfamilies and concern for the prevention of negative child outcomes resulting from marital transitions, there is interest in further clarification of this gender difference.Previous research has found evidence of this gender differ-

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Social science research that can be translated into policy recommendations pertaining to the custody of children after divorce is meager. Giving specific attention to the debate on the advantages and disadvantages of joint custody, this article proposes multilevel-multivariable life cycle guidelines for future child custody research. Critical issues are discussed, empirical questions raised, and salient variables examined for both the divorced family and the social system. For the divorced family, six classes of variables (parent-child relationships, interparental relationships, mechanics of alternations, similarity-dissimilarity of home environments, characteristics of children, and social-demographic characteristics) are discussed. For the social system, attention is given to the potential effect of formal social institutions (work settings, schools, and the legal system) and of informal social networks (kin and friends) on the postdivorce interrelationships of parents and children. The importance of examining the effects of custody arrangements in terms of a family life cycle is emphasized. The remarriage of one or both parents is used to illustrate how the effects of joint custody may be altered by anticipated changes in the life cycle of divorced parents and their children.Each American child learns, early and in terror, that his whole security depends on that single set of parents who, more often than not, are arguing in the next room over some detail in their lives. A desperate demand upon the permanence and all-satisfyingness of monogamous marriage is set up in the cradle. What will happen to me if anything goes wrong, if Mommy dies, if Daddy dies, if Daddy leaves Mommy, or Mommy leaves Daddy? are questions no American child can escape.