Most stepfathers treat stepchildren
well
NEW YORK, Jun 13 (Reuters
Health) - Little feet are pattering to stores this week to buy
Father's Day presents for Sunday. Don't be surprised that many of
those shopping feet belong to stepchildren--a new study shows that
most American stepfathers have earned thanks from their stepkids,
because they are much more involved in raising these children than
commonly thought.
The report says that
stepfathers spend about the same amount of money and almost as
much time with their pre-teen stepchildren as they do with their
birth children.
"Stepfathers actually have
a very poor reputation--that they're not doing much, and are
associated with a lot of negative outcomes for children.... But
stepfathers are helping raise kids, they're not just freeloaders
who are uninvolved and uninterested," Kermyt Anderson, an
anthropologist and research fellow at the University of Michigan's
Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor.
Anderson conducted two
studies. The first focused on stepfathers themselves, and was
based on an analysis of data that had been collected since 1968
concerning 5,409 marriages. Of these marriages, 686--nearly
13%--involved men who married women who already had children with
other partners. Anderson reported that these men were more likely
to have been divorced, have children of their own, and have lower
levels of education and income.
Anderson found that having
stepchildren can affect a stepfather's lifetime fertility levels
and the likelihood of his having children with a new spouse. He
noted that having one or two stepchildren did not affect
fertility, and that these stepfathers were just as likely as men
with no stepchildren to have more children within the new
marriage. However, fathers raising three or more stepchildren were
less likely to have more children. These men often marry later and
spend fewer years being married, which may affect their chances of
fathering children, Anderson noted.
In the second study
conducted at the University of New Mexico, Anderson examined the
effect stepfathers have on their stepchildren. The researcher
looked at 1,300 men and categorized their children into four
groups: genetic children of current spouse; genetic children of
former spouse; stepchildren of current spouse; and stepchildren of
former spouse.
He found that the money
stepfathers spent on education, clothing, hobbies, allowances,
medical expenses and gifts for their current stepchildren under
the age of 17 was almost equal to the amount spent on their
genetic children from a prior relationship. Also, Anderson noted
that the men spent the most money overall on their genetic
children of current mates and the least amount on their
stepchildren from prior relationships. Additionally, he pointed
out that for older children between 18 and 24, stepfathers
actually spend more on stepchildren of current mates than on
genetic children of former mates.
Anderson also found a
difference in the amount of time men spent with children aged 5 to
12 of different groups--with 20 hours a week spent with genetic
children of current mates, 16 hours with stepchildren and 10 hours
with genetic children of prior relationships. He noted, however,
that legal restrictions and arrangements may affect the leeway men
have when deciding the amount of time and money they would wish to
spend with children from the various groups.
In an interview with
Reuters Health, Anderson said that while he was not necessarily
disputing the impression many people have that stepfathers are not
always good parents, he felt it was important to recognize that
stepfathers are an important fact of life--and that many are
trying hard to give time, energy and money to their stepchildren.
"Stepfathers are very
common--in every culture among humans, actually unlike in other
animal species," he noted. "Among birds, for example, two parents
often raise the children--but it's very uncommon for another bird
to raise someone else' kids. In humans, however, it's very
common.... These men are investing in stepkids, so it's not that
stepfathers are totally bad or negative. And these stepfathers
help raise more children overall, in raw numbers, than men who
don't have stepkids."
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2000 Reuters Limited.
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