4. Blended Families, Same-Sex Families, and Adoption Flashcards
A blended family
is a child or children from a partner’s previous relationship or marriage and contains at least one adopted or biological child of both parents
A stepfamily
includes parents who do not have biological children together
Members of a blended family are likely to have experienced
loss of their previous family structures
Creating a blended family also signifies the beginning of
a new chapter in the lives of the members, especially when living arrangements are reviewed and some family members start living together
The age of the children at the time the blended family is created is
crucial
younger children tend to adjust ______ than older children (especially teenagers) to the new family structure and living arrangements
quicker and more successfully
benefits of living in a blended family include
A decline in the depressive symptoms of children of divorced parents;
Availability of further support and exposure to new experiences within the blended family structure;
Development of more adaptable and tolerant relational pa
tterns for children and adults;
Refinement of emotional resilience;
An increase in independent coping skills.
Challenges of living in a blended family include
Creating new family relationships;
Adjusting to new living arrangements and potential relocation;
Creating and adjusting to new family and house rules;
Reviewing co-parenting and contact arrangements with the children’s other parent;
Dealing with the loss of previous family structure and lifestyle;
Potential parental conflict regarding parenting and family values
there is evidence to indicate that children living in blended or stepfamilies often display
poor cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes than children who have grown up in nuclear families
In a recent Australian study examining the psychological well-being of children in different family structures, Perales et al. (2017) found that
the prevalence of mental disorders was higher in children from blended, step, or one-parent families
Perales et al. (2017) found that While children in stepfamilies or one-parent families had a significantly higher prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) than children in nuclear families, there was
no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of MDD between children in blended families and nuclear families.
Perales et al. (2017) found that Children in blended and one-parent families had a
significantly higher prevalence of ADHD compared to nuclear families; however, there was no difference in the prevalence between stepfamilies and nuclear families.
Perales et al. (2017) found that The prevalence of anxiety disorders and conduct disorders was significantly
higher in all types of non-nuclear families compared to nuclear families.
Additionally, Ganong and Coleman (2017) highlight that while the body of evidence does indicate that children from non-nuclear families do not do as well as children from nuclear families in a range of areas, these differences are generally
small, and between 75-80% of children from non-nuclear families perform well on a range of outcomes
recent findings suggest that many cognitive, socio-emotional and psychological outcomes between nuclear and non-nuclear families are not
statistically significant after controlling for factors such as poverty and parent mental health
Steinbach and Hank (2018) found that although blood-related adult siblings tended to report feeling closer to one another than non-blood related siblings, they also reported
significantly higher levels of conflict
Research investigating same-sex families and adoption suggests that gay and lesbian couples place
little significance on having a genetic tie with their children
heterosexual couples perceived having a genetic tie to their children as
stabilising to the relationship, while same-sex couples considered it as a potential source of destabilisation
it appears that for same-sex couples, adoption can allow equality for the parents, due to
the lack of genetic relation to the child
Jennings et al., 2014, p. 222). found that
a significant number of gay and lesbian parents came to adoption without having expected, desired, or tried for a biological child
Goodman & Kim, 2000 have suggested that this is because
biological reproduction and a genetic tie with one’s child is socially and culturally constructed, rather than innate
research suggests that Australians are generally in favour of the use of
IVF, donor insemination (DI), and surrogacy by heterosexual couples
recent research on Australian social attitudes suggests that the population can be divided into three broad categories:
A majority who were consistently comfortable with same-sex and heterosexual family formation using ART (mostly women, university educated, left-wing in political allegiance and non, or infrequent church attendees);
A smaller discriminatory group (mostly men, retired, more conservative voters and frequent church attendees) who were comfortable with heterosexual couples, but not same-sex couples’ use of ART;
A sizeable minority (mostly frequent church attendees) who were not comfortable with either heterosexual or same-sex couples using ART (Dempsey & Critchley, 2010, p. 90).
