School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA.
Fam Process. 2018 Jun;57(2):477-495. doi: 10.1111/famp.12284. Epub 2017 Mar 7.
The stepfamily literature is replete with between-group analyses by which youth residing in stepfamilies are compared to youth in other family structures across indicators of adjustment and well-being. Few longitudinal studies examine variation in stepfamily functioning to identify factors that promote the positive adjustment of stepchildren over time. Using a longitudinal sample of 191 stepchildren (56% female, mean age = 11.3 years), the current study examines the association between the relationship quality of three central stepfamily dyads (stepparent-child, parent-child, and stepcouple) and children's internalizing and externalizing problems concurrently and over time. Results from path analyses indicate that higher levels of parent-child affective quality are associated with lower levels of children's concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1. Higher levels of stepparent-child affective quality are associated with decreases in children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 2 (6 months beyond baseline), even after controlling for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1 and other covariates. The stepcouple relationship was not directly linked to youth outcomes. Our findings provide implications for future research and practice.
继亲家庭文献中充满了组间分析，通过这些分析将生活在继亲家庭中的年轻人与其他家庭结构中的年轻人在适应和幸福感的指标上进行比较。很少有纵向研究考察继亲家庭功能的变化，以确定随着时间的推移促进继子女积极适应的因素。本研究使用了一个有 191 名继子女（56%为女性，平均年龄为 11.3 岁）的纵向样本，考察了三个核心继亲家庭对子（继父母-孩子、父母-孩子和继配偶）关系质量与儿童同时期和随时间变化的内化和外化问题之间的关系。路径分析的结果表明，亲子情感质量较高与第 1 波儿童同时存在的内化和外化问题水平较低有关。继父母-孩子情感质量较高与儿童内化和外化问题的减少有关，第 2 波（基线后 6 个月），即使在控制了第 1 波儿童的内化和外化问题以及其他协变量后也是如此。继配偶关系与青年的结果没有直接联系。我们的研究结果为未来的研究和实践提供了启示。
