Journal of Family Issues最新文献

Stepfamilies are an increasingly common family structure and have drawn the attention of researchers and practitioners for decades; however, advancing research and intervention development focused on the relational and interactional dynamics between stepparents and adolescents, particularly from the perspective of stepchildren, remains urgent. The current study employed qualitative methods to seek an answer to the following research question: What specific advice for new stepparents do stepchildren have who experienced stepfamily formation during adolescence? Maximum variation sampling was used to recruit a socio-demographically diverse sample of 18 emerging adults (average age: 20.3 years) who experienced stepfamily formation during adolescence. Reflexive thematic analysis yielded the following six themes (some with several subthemes), reflecting detailed advice for new stepparents who will engage with adolescent stepchildren: (a) prepare for the role, (b) be real, (c) be patient, (d) don't force it, (e) carefully integrate (with six corresponding subthemes), and (f) prioritize the adolescent (with three corresponding subthemes). Taken together, the participants' insights largely cohere with and significantly augment extant literature, showcasing a relatively holistic and comprehensive view of common stepfamily issues and potential strategies to prevent or mitigate them. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

In this study, we examine the long-term effects of family experiences during mid-adolescence, including parental divorce and separation, on mother-child solidarity in early adulthood. The study combines a longitudinal analysis of stability and change in family relationships from mid-adolescence to early adulthood with a cross-sectional examination of the mechanisms of intergenerational solidarity in early adulthood. The data come from the German LifE-Study, which spans 20 years (from 1982 to 2002) and includes information on 1179 mother-child relationships. Findings from structural equation models reveal that emotional closeness, contact frequency, and instrumental support provided by adult children to mothers are significantly influenced-both directly and indirectly-by family experiences in adolescence. Additionally, compared to mother-adult daughter relationships, mother-adult son relationships were found to be less involved and more reliant on current contact frequency. However, for most participants, the mother-adult child relationship was found to be close and supportive, constituting a long-lasting bond.

Parental depressive symptoms are positively correlated with levels of parenting stress. Greater parenting stress predicts negative outcomes for both parents and children, and worse family functioning. Social support is a key protective factor against depressive symptoms; however, minimal research has examined the relationship between social support, paternal depressive symptoms, and parenting stress among fathers. Seventy-nine fathers of children, aged 2-6 years old, completed an online survey. Mediation analyses, using Hayes' PROCESS macro, determined significant indirect effects of social support on parenting stress through paternal depressive symptoms. Our findings elucidate the need for social support from family, friends, and significant others to improve depressive symptomology and parenting stress among fathers. We encourage fathers to seek support from friends, family, and their partners, to benefit their mental health and the family unit. Clinicians working with fathers should be aware of the possibility of co-occurring problems related to these factors.

Drawing on the Gender Revolution Framework, this research uses data from Canada General Social Survey and binary logistic regression to examine how the gender division of housework influences fertility intentions among partnered women aged 18-39 (N = 1589), across various employment and education levels. Unadjusted results showed that women who shared household routine tasks (cooking, cleaning, dishes, and laundry) and intermittent tasks (grocery shopping, organizing social life, finance, and bill paying) with their partner had higher intentions to have children. The adjusted findings revealed that women's employment status moderated the relationship between gender division of household routine tasks and fertility intentions, while education had no significant moderating effect. Employed women who did not share equally household routine tasks with their spouse had a lower probability of intention to have children (0.22), compared to their unemployed counterparts (0.48). The findings have significant implications for social and family policies that are discussed in detail.