Reconstituted Family Trends/ What do sociologists think?

Question 1

McCarthy et al (commenting on the diversity between reconstituted families)

Answer 1

Great diversity among reconstituted families:

• some have tensions
• others have no more tensions than the nuclear family

(Allan and Crow support this by saying: reconstituted families may face particular problems of divided loyalties and issues such as contact with the non-resident parent)

Question 2

Ferri and Smith (commenting on the poverty experienced by reconstituted families)

Answer 2

Reconstituted families are at greater risk of poverty because:
- more children to support
- stepfather may have to support children from a previous relationship
Involvement of stepparents is usually positive

Question 3

Out of all the families with dependent children in Britain, what percentage are now reconstituted families?

Answer 3

10%

Question 4

What trend is responsible for the increase in reconstituted families?

Answer 4

• the increase in divorce and resultantly the rise in remarriages

Question 5

Is co-parenting a growing or declining trend?

Answer 5

Growing

Question 6

Why might a reconstituted family often be described as ‘blended’?

Answer 6

• because they include the uniting and mixing of two families that were once separate