Work

Parent–Child Relationships in Stepfather Families and Adolescent Adjustment: A Latent Class Analysis

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: In the current study the authors drew on Waves I and III from Add Health to examine the closeness of parent-adolescent relationships in married mother-stepfather families (N = 1,934). They used latent class analysis to identify family constellations defined by adolescents' relationships with all of their parents: mothers, stepfathers, and biological nonresident fathers. In particular, the authors (a) identified the most common underlying patterns of adolescent-parent relationships in stepfamilies; (b) determined the background characteristics that predict membership in these groups; and (c) examined how adolescents in these groups fare with respect to depressive symptoms, delinquency, and substance use. The results indicate that adolescents' relationships can be represented with 4 latent classes. Adolescents in these classes differ on measures of adjustment, and many of these differences persist into the early adult years.

Source: Journal of Marriage and the Family

DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12267

Authors: Paul R. Amato, Valarie King, Maggie L. Thorsen

Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Montana State University

Language: English

Topic: Family Dynamics and Relationships

Subfield: Demography

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development