Diverse Stepfamilies

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the growing diversity of stepfamilies in the Netherlands. While in the past, married stepfather families in which mothers had children's sole physical custody were most dominant, this pattern has been changing drastically. This change is first due to growing numbers of parents choosing joint physical custody (shared residence) post-divorce. Secondly, expanding numbers of children grow up in cohabiting or living-apart-together (LAT) stepfamilies, as parents increasingly favour these relationship types instead of remarriage. This increasing diversity among stepfamilies has implications for children's relationships with their biological parents and stepparents. Using unique data collected in the Netherlands, in collaboration with Statistics Netherlands (CBS), this dissertation examines the implications of this growing diversity on children's relationships with their (step)parents. It further investigates the associations between these relationships and children's well-being. One of the most relevant conclusions of this dissertation is that co-residence is as important as biological relatedness for better parent-child relationships. Biological parents are more often involved in caring for children than stepparents, indicating the relevance of biological relatedness. Importantly, co-residence with children is equally important. Both biological parents and stepparents are engaged in childcare most often when children live fully with them, followed by partially (i.e., shared residence), and least involved when children do not live with them. Another finding is that the parenting roles of stepmothers are similar to those of stepfathers. This finding is important because it demonstrates that the more ambiguous parenting roles of stepmothers, compared to stepfathers, are not primarily due to the prominent role of biological mothers in raising children. Instead, it stems mainly from the fact that children often live with their stepfathers rather than their stepmothers. These conclusions have relevant social implications because they emphasize the importance of co-residence in children's relationships with their biological parents and stepparents. Moreover, they suggest that shared residence is important for allowing multiple parent figures to be more involved in children's lives. Finally, this dissertation contributes to scientific knowledge by disentangling the role of three main theoretical mechanisms often discussed in family sociology in relation to parent-child relationships, namely, biology, residence and gender.