New research published in the Journal of Marriage and Family explored the educational achievement of children in stepfamilies. The study found that better stepfather-child relationships and better nonresident father-child relationships were both associated with a greater likelihood of attending college in young adulthood.
Growing up in a stepfamily appears to have negative repercussions on the success of the child, particularly when it comes to educational achievement. However, many children in blended families seem to show no reduction in school success. Study authors Valarie King and her team aimed to uncover family factors that promote the educational success of children in stepfamilies, with a focus on college attainment.
Healthy parent-child relationships have been shown to promote positive development in children, but for stepfamilies, maintaining positive family relationships can be a difficult task. To glean a thorough picture of the parent-child dynamic in blended families, King and associates examined mother-child, stepfather-child, and nonresident father-child relationships.
Data was taken from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample of US youth in grades 7-12. The current study focused on 881 adolescents who were involved in both Waves 1 and 3 of Add Health and who were in stable stepfamilies. Wave 3 took place seven years after the first wave, when the youth were between the ages of 18-26.
Researchers focused on the main outcome of educational attainment, looking specifically at whether or not the youth were either enrolled in a 4-year college program or had completed a Bachelor’s degree by Wave 3. They then analyzed whether certain variables measured at Wave 1 could predict this outcome. Wave 1 variables included the mother-stepfather relationship, stepfather-stepchild relationship, the nonresident father-child relationship, and the youth’s grades in school. Researchers additionally considered the youth’s perceptions of their stepfather’s and their mother’s expectations for them concerning their college education.
To capture various pathways, researchers looked at both direct and indirect effects on the outcome of educational attainment. The only parent-child relationship that had a direct effect on college attendance was the youth’s relationship with their non-resident father. A better nonresident father-child relationship was also correlated with better grades in school.
When it came to the stepfather-child relationship, results showed no direct effect on youth college attendance. However, the stepfather-child relationship had an indirect effect on college attendance through the youth’s grades, through their grades and college expectations, and through their perception of disappointment from their stepfather if they did not graduate college.
The mother-child relationship had no direct nor indirect relationship with college attendance. However, the authors point out that both mothers’ and stepfathers’ expectations that the youth attend college were associated with the youth’s own intentions for college, which in turn was linked to college attendance. This suggests that mothers did influence youth’s educational attainment indirectly through their expectations.
The authors stress that growing up in a stepfamily does not necessarily lead to negative outcomes and that “maintaining children’s ties to nonresident fathers after parental separation and fostering close ties to stepfathers when mothers repartner may have long-term positive consequences for youths’ college attainment and the many benefits associated with it.”
The study, “Family Relationships During Adolescence and Stepchilden’s Educational Attainment in Young Adulthood”, was authored by Valarie King, Brianne Pragg, and Rachel Lindstrom.
