Step Family

The Need for a Study

There is a tremendous gap in the information that is put out on stepfamilies and the way they live. There are countless studies done every year on how the stepparents handle situations and how the stepparents deals with discipline or even how to discipline. Every where you look there is help for the struggling stepparent. Now, that is a good thing, the abundance of help available. But the bad thing about all that help is it did not cover the children’s point of view. Nearly all the studies done do not include children in the research. That is the major flaw in all the help books and programs for stepparents. With the rise of stepfamilies, there needs to be more help offered that takes the child perspective into account. That perspective will be the focus of this study. The intent will be to get a better understanding of how children living in stepfamilies households define their family and how they perceive their relationships with other household members.

The Nature of the Study

The intent will be to get a better understanding of how children living in stepfamilies households define their family and how they perceive their relationships with other household members. The sample population will be a family counselor (Psychology). I will plan to seat in 10 or so sessions as an observer. Information from the seat-ins will be developed and analyzed. Research findings will be used to help future research.

Assumptions

The following are assumptions on which the study is based:

1. The purpose of the seat-ins is to get an understanding of how children living in stepfamilies households define their family and how they perceive their relationships with other household members.

2. The use of a family counselor will give a wide array of stepfamily access.

3. Conducting this small scale study will promote the need for future research.

Research Questions

The study will attempt to answer the following questions:

1. How do you define your family?

2. How do you perceive you relationship with others in the household?

3. Who do you count as belonging to your family?

Methodology

1. Review of the literature on research with emphasis on children and the relationship with stepparents

2. Based on information from review of literature and local family counselors, a format was developed.

3. The study will include 10 or more seat-in sessions with a local family counselor.

4. The families will be random and voluntary.

5. The information gathered will promote the need for future research.

Plans for Review of Literature

The review of literature will include the following identifiers: family practices, makeup and breakdown, parent involvement, discipline and point of entry.

Computer and catalog searches will focus on research within the last 40 years and significant earlier work. The Chapman Library System online, the library at McChord Air Force Base, EBSCO and SAA will be used for the initial information collection effort.

Literature Review

The book Stepfamilies; History, Research, and Policy, by Irene Levin and Marvin B. Sussman contains precisely what the title suggest, a wide range of individuality valuable and stimulating chapters hat form a wonderfully rich menu from which I found exciting and a wealth of variety.

Chapters include historical reviews from both the distant past and comparisons of the 1970’s and the present. It takes a closer look at the variations of the stepfamily, gives detailed accounts of how society view stepfamilies, detailed accounts of how stepfamilies view themselves; accounts of how children view their stepfamilies; the legal policy perspectives; and last