Citation

Amato PR, King V, Thorsen ML. J. Marriage Fam. 2016; 78(2): 482-497.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jomf.12267

PMID

27022199

Abstract

In the current study the authors drew on Waves I and III from Add Health to examine the closeness of parent-adolescent relationships in married mother-stepfather families (N = 1,934). They used latent class analysis to identify family constellations defined by adolescents' relationships with all of their parents: mothers, stepfathers, and biological nonresident fathers. In particular, the authors (a) identified the most common underlying patterns of adolescent-parent relationships in stepfamilies; (b) determined the background characteristics that predict membership in these groups; and (c) examined how adolescents in these groups fare with respect to depressive symptoms, delinquency, and substance use. The results indicate that adolescents' relationships can be represented with 4 latent classes. Adolescents in these classes differ on measures of adjustment, and many of these differences persist into the early adult years.

Language: en