The Effects of Blended Families

THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED FAMILIES
The Effects of Blended Families
Mari H. Bennett
Adolescent Psychology
PS261
Dr. Caperton
March 30, 2015
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College

THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED FAMILIES 2
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to briefly explain the various structures that make up a “blended
family.” Through several studies, researchers have discovered that there has been a drastic
increase in marital conflict since the divorce “epidemic” of the 1970’s. As a result, many couples
have ended their marriages, with or without children in their failing relationship. While some
parents have chosen to remain single, many decide to get remarried. This shift from single-parent
home to a step-parent home has shown significant impact in the lives of young adolescents with
short- to long-term effects. This paper will explain the difference between an intact family and a
blended family, the relationships between siblings within a blended family, Adler’s theory of
birth order and its impact on children, the adolescent’s future romantic relationships, and long
term effects of divorce on children. Lastly, the paper will offer some guidance for parents that
have undergone a divorce that would like to help their child cope with their circumstances, while
preventing any potential long-term conflicts.

The Effects of Blended Families
According to Melinda E. Baham and her fellow researchers of Arizona State University’s
Department of Psychology, there are two types of family compositions: intact families and
blended families. “An intact family is one that has remained together for the duration of the
child’s life, and typically the parents in an intact family are the biological parents of the children
in the household (exceptions occurring when the parents adopt children, and when one of the
parents has a child from a previous relationship). A blended family is often referred to as a non-
traditional family, and refers to family types that do not follow the intact family guidelines.” A
blended family also has several variations on who is raising the child/children.
Simple and Complex Family Structures
A blended family household may be run by a single-parent or it may include a step-
parent. A single-mother household is a family in which the biological mother is the only parent
raising the child/children. A single-father household is similar, except that it is the biological
father that is the only parent raising the child/children. In a step-parent home, the biological
father or mother is raising his or her biological child/children with a spouse that is not the
biological parent to the kid(s). There are two additional subcategories within a blended family: a
simple or complex family unit. Simple and complex families occur with a single-parent or step-
parent structure. In a simple stepfamily, all of the children in the household share the same
biological parent, with there being only one-step parent. In a complex stepfamily, both parents
are a step-parent to at least one child. The children may be brought into the new family unit as a
result of a previous marriage or partner of both parents. A complex stepfamily may also include
the presence of a half sibling, “a child that is the result of a genetic union between both parents in

the family, and would be a half sibling to a child of the mother’s or a child of the father’s”
(Baham, Weimer, Braver, Fabriscius). According to BlendedFamilies.net, 50% of children in the
United States are being raised in blended families. Unfortunately, these blended families have a
greater risk of living in a high conflict home than children that are raised in intact families. The
interaction among step siblings and half siblings have been monitored by researchers,
specifically E.R. Anderson, who recorded his findings in his written work, titled: Adolescent
Siblings in Stepfamilies: Family Functioning and Adolescent Adjustment. Anderson’s work was
also discussed by Amy Braham and her fellow Arizona State University researchers.
Sibling Relationships in Blended Families
“Anderson (1999) studied sibling relationship quality between full siblings, half siblings,
and stepsiblings in blended families… [He] measured sibling relationship quality among six
dimensions: rivalry, aggression, avoidance, teaching, empathy, and companionships. These
dimensions were then organized into positive and negative factors, which were then combined
with observational measures of positivity and negativity in the step-sibling relationship”
(Braham, Weimer, Braver, Fabriscius). He controlled his study by limiting the study to same-sex
sibling pairs, with the average age being 15 years old for the older sibling and 13 for the younger
sibling. The quality of the sibling relationships were based on observational methods and self-
completed questionnaires. Anderson also limited the study to siblings whose parents had been
married (cohabitating parents were excluded) for at least 5 years prior to their participation.
Siblings were only allowed to be within a four years age difference, with an age range of 10-18
years old. 95% of the sibling participants were European white, 4% were representing African
American and 1% of participants were Hispanic. Anderson had found that girls were more likely
to show positivity in their sibling interactions (regardless if they were full, half or step-siblings),

though there was no significant difference between the amount of companionship in the sibling
relationship. However, the girls also showed greater signs of empathy than the boys. Step-
siblings showed significantly less negativity, than full or half siblings, even after controlling the
age differences among them; these were recorded both through observation and reports.
“Furthermore, step-siblings engaged in the lowest levels of rivalry, aggression, and avoidance.
Step-siblings also had more positive interactions than did half siblings, even after controlling
age, gender and composition. Moreover, step-siblings engaged in less teaching than did full and
half siblings, and girls engaged in more teaching than did boys” (Braham, Weimer, Braver,
Fabriscius). Anderson had developed a theory, that the greater the age differences among
siblings, the higher the negativity in their relationship. To test this theory, Anderson investigated
the connections between the age differences among these siblings and the aspect of their
relationships. He found that the older the siblings, the less negativity there was between siblings;
this included rivalry, aggression, and avoidance. Instead, there was a stronger presence of
empathy than in younger siblings. However, there was no support in their relationship being
stronger in terms of companionship. Additionally, the larger the age gap between siblings, the
more avoidance and aggression, and less companionship; these age gaps ranged from 0-5 years.
While research has shown that the relationship between siblings is impacted by the age gap
between same-sex siblings, Alfred Adler has great insight on the impact of birth order on
children.
Impact of Birth Order on Children
In his article “The birth order effect for couples: How birth order affects your
relationships and what you can do about it,” C. Isaacson of Gloucester, Massachusetts’s Fair
Winds Press writes that Alfred Adler, founder of Individual Psychology, believed that “a child’s

personality is shaped largely by his or her chronological place in the family because parents tend
to treat children differently according to their order of their birth.” Birth order refers to the
location of the child’s birth into the family system; the four locations a child can be placed under
are oldest, middle, youngest, and only. Each of these positions has its own unique personality
and traits, which are then shaped by the way a child’s parents and siblings, interact with him or
her. There are two different forms of birth order that a child identifies his or her self under:
actual birth order and psychological birth order. Actual birth, also known as ordinal birth order,
refers to the time that a child enters the family: first born, middle born, last born, or only born.
The actual birth order impacts a child’s personality traits, interests, and attitudes. The actual birth
order can become very complex in blended families. D. Eckstein and K. Aycock, who wrote a
review on over 200 birth order studies titled The Journal of Genetic Psychology, explain that
“blended families are unique. The birth order may change if the family has younger kids under
the age of five. It may depend on the amount of time the children spend in the home. As the
children grow older, their actual birth order will more than likely stay the same because they
have already shaped their personalities before the two families blended.” The actual (ordinal)
birth order typically remains constant, but the psychological birth order is what Adler considered
the more important of the two. According to Lyndsie J. Murphy of Adler Graduate School, the
psychological birth order, or perceived birth order, would be defined as the position the
individual sees themselves under in the family system. For example, the youngest child may feel
that she embodies an older sibling personality, either because her older siblings were more
outgoing or manipulative than she was growing up, or because she had experienced external
environment factors that led to her desire for perfection and organization. All children wish to

obtain a secure position within their family, which is why the family atmosphere is crucial to the
development of personalities within the youth.
Parents’ Influence
The personal values of the parents are introduced to the children, and as each child grows
up, these family beliefs influence what each child pursues in his or her life. “This is because each
child is born into different intellectual environments” (Murphy, 2012). After each child, parents
become skilled and faster at raising their children. Children can also interpret a single event in
different ways. A few examples of a vastly interpreted event would be a divorce, a new step-
parent, or a new half sibling. All of these examples can be found as a result of a blended union.
A child’s satisfaction with his or her own blended family influences the conditions of its
upcoming relationships. The more satisfied they were with their family of origin, the more
successful children of blended families did in their romantic relationships (Murphy, 2012). One
of the most important relationships any child experiences is the interaction with his or her own
siblings. Sibling relationships offer children an opportunity to understand the opposite sex. It
also leads for rivalry, which is created either between the siblings themselves or the parents.
“Adult initiated rivalry and sibling generated rivalry are the two different types of sibling rivalry.
Adult initiated rivalry includes parents comparing things between the two siblings, while the
parents make subtle statements about the two children. Sibling generated rivalry happens when
children attempt to gain parental attention and increase their status within the sibling
relationship” (Murphy, 2012). This can be resolved through an equal amount of attention from
the parent to each child. As stated by E. Gugl, writer of the Economic Inquiry’s article: “The
early bird gets the worm? Birth order effects in a dynamic family model,” “Spreading out the
attention they give each child will help eliminate sibling rivalry and jealousy. A child’s

dominate need is to have time spent with them.” This can become difficult if the parents are
separated, or have not resolved their marital conflict properly.
Long-Term Effects of Divorce
According to D. Wayne Matthews, a Human Development Specialist of North Carolina
State University, “The children have to process through each stage right along with their
parents…A child’s perception of divorce will be largely determined by age and gender, as well
as the child’s history of stress and coping.” There are several factors that place a child at risk
during each stage of a divorce. Some of these factors include: gender, age, socioeconomic status,
the degree in which the child was involved in the marital conflict, the relationship between the
child to each of the parents prior to the conflict, parent’s inability to separate from being a parent
and a spouse successfully, continually open conflict between parents, and the perceived loss of
the non-custodial parent. First, because the mother is typically granted sole custody of children
after a divorce, daughters benefit from the situation more than sons. Children are in need of a
same-sex parent to adjust properly to a divorce, and because of the absence of a father, the sons
have difficulty with finding a male role model. Second, “Younger children are at risk short-term
due to confusion surrounding the divorce and the loss of the parent no longer living in the home.
Younger children are less able to make sense of all the changes that are occurring. Preadolescent
and adolescent children are more at risk over the long-term, because in the short-term their close
alignment with their peers represses their feelings regarding their parents’ divorce” (Matthews).
Third, children that have less money due to the divorce experience difficulty with meeting their
needs. Fourth, children that are aware of the marital conflict, or are “in the middle of it” feel
more frustration, anger, confusion and loyalty issues than those that were not involved. Fifth, if a
child experienced issues with one or both of the parents prior to divorce, the parent-child

relationship will suffer even more afterwards. Sixth, spouses that are unable to determine the
welfare of their children’s lives peacefully will cause them more pain than if they came to an
agreement respectfully. Seventh, the greater the continued bickering between spouses, the greater
the “emotional turmoil” their children experience. Lastly, it is crucial that the parents nurture the
relationship between their child/children and the non-custodial parent, so that they can prevent
feelings of abandonment and loss. The non-custodial parent is typically the father, who often
disengages with his children slowly as they progressively age. “A nurturing father-child
relationship is crucial for children’s long-term development. Without such a relationship,
children may experience emotional frustration and confusion” (Matthews). These are just some
of the many emotions that children from divorced families experience; a child’s struggle to cope
is not abnormal, and should be respected by step-parents of blended families. Parents of blended
families must accept that there are short and long-term effects to all “traumatic experiences,” and
that divorce is not a mild pill for kids to swallow. Some research studies have found that children
can experience moderate to clinical depression, often getting angered at the parent who initiated
the divorce. “Many of them remained critical of both parents for having made the mistake of a
misguided marriage. They were especially critical of their parents for not having rectified the
mistake before the children were born.” Researchers found that children of divorce had poorer
physical health than children of intact families. There was also a rise of “anxiety in late teens and
early 20s—feelings and memories about their parents’ divorce arise with new intensity as they
enter adulthood, life-long vulnerability to the experience of loss, anger, resentment, and hostility,
a reduction in psychological well-being, depression in young adulthood, low life satisfaction”
(Matthews).

In Summary
In order to significantly decrease the symptoms of divorce in their children, parents of
blended families should take immediate action by understanding the eight risk factors described
above. If each parent lets their kid(s) know that they are loved and that adults and children both
need their own time to do things they enjoy, this would help greatly. Also, removing children
from fights and not exposing them to conflict between their parents allows them to feel a sense
of safety, comfort; this also establishes respect for the non-custodial parent. Third, by offering
additional adult role-models, children of divorce do not feel the need to fill the “void” or
confusion they are experiencing from not having their biological parent in the household. Lastly,
seek out activities where the whole family is able to participate; this reassures that the child still
has a valuable place in the family system.

References
Anderson, E. R. (1999). Sibling, half sibling, and stepsibling relationships in remarried families.
(pp. 101 – 126). In E. M. Hetherington, S. H. Henderson, & D. Reiss (Eds.) Adolescent
Siblings in Stepfamilies: Family Functioning and Adolescent Adjustment. Monographs of
the Society for Research in Child Development, 64(4, Serial No. 259).
Baham, M., Weimer, A., Braver, S., & Fabricius, W. (n.d.). Sibling Relationships in Blended
Families (J. Pryor, Ed.). Retrieved March 12, 2015, from
http://pays.sfsu.edu/sites/sites7.sfsu.edu.pays/files/assets/papers/SiblingRelationshipsin
BlendedFamiliesChapter.pdf.
Eckstein, D., Aycock, K. J., Sperber, M. A., McDonald, J., Van Wiesner III, V., Watts, R. E., &
Ginsburg, P. (2010). A review of 200 birth-order studies: Lifestyle characteristics. The
Journal of Individual Psychology, 66(4), 408-434.
Gugl, E., & Welling, L. (2010). The early bird gets the worm? birth order effects in a dynamic
family model. Economic Inquiry, 48(3), 690-703.
Isaacson, C. (2004). The birth order effect for couples: How birth order affects your relationships
and what you can do about it. Gloucester, MA: Fair Winds Press.
Matthews, D. (1998, August 1). Long Term Effects of Divorce on Children. Retrieved March 31,
2015, from http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs482.pdf.
Murphy, L. (2012, January 1). Impact of Birth Order on Romantic Relationships. Retrieved
March 12, 2015, from
http://www.alfredadler.edu/sites/default/files/Murphy_MP_2012.pdf.

The Effects of Blended Families

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