Stepfamily

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A stepfamily (from Old High German stiof- , behind remained 'orphaned', also blended family called) is a family in which at least one parent a child has co-sponsored from a previous relationship in the new family. As part of the sociocultural changes in lifestyles, unmarried partnerships and families with foster children were also included under this term in the sociological literature towards the end of the 20th century .

An alternative designation for such a family is patchwork family ( English patchwork , 'Flick-', 'Stückwerk') or, taken completely from English, patchwork family , although this term is not used in the English-speaking world.

13.6% of households in Germany with children under the age of 18 are stepfamilies; about 10.9% of children under the age of 18 live in step families. The stepfamily is the third most common family type after the nuclear family and the one-parent family ( single parents ) with a share of 16% of children under 18 years of age.

Designation of those involved in a stepfamily

Until very recently, the fact that an adult enters into a new marriage or a marriage-like relationship was only socially accepted when the previous partner died. As a result, stepchildren were almost always half orphans . Today, stepfamilies can also arise as a result of separation or divorce and subsequent (re) marriage or new partnership (possibly also same-sex partnership ) of the parents . The newly acquired family members, i.e. the new partner of a parent and their relatives, are marked with the prefix step- : stepmother , stepfather (in legal terminology, gender-neutral stepparent ), step-sister, -brother or -sibling, always related to the stepchildren. However , these parties are not related to the child in the legal sense. Step-parents (if the step ratio established by marriage is) only with their Stiefkind verschwägert ; other step relatives (including step siblings) are neither related to the child nor by marriage. The members of a rainbow family may also be referred to as step-relatives; In the case of a registered civil partnership, there is also a partnership in accordance with Section 11 of the Civil Partnership Act . In Germany, however, stepchildren can reduce the contributions to long-term care insurance for the non-biological parent without their own children ( Section 25 and Section 55 of Book XI of the Social Code ).

The broader family network is now often more complicated than with the classic stepfamily, which arises from the remarriage of the widower or widow with a previously single and usually childless new partner. Such sociological changes are described by Anthony Giddens , among others : stepchildren of both parents can live in the newly created family , and the birth of new children from the current partners can also result in half-siblings . This creates complex networks of kinship and relationships, which can, under certain circumstances, lead to allocation conflicts or definition problems (for example, if the parents of the step-parent are not called grandparents because the children are used to referring to their biological grandparents as such).

In fairy tales , the cliché of the bad stepmother is widespread, which can lead to stepparents perceiving the term as derogatory and not wanting to call themselves that.

Emergence

Stepfamilies used to be common too, as life expectancy was low and women often died giving birth or men were killed in war. The widower or the widow with children then remarried. However, in the 20th century, divorces increased - they became the main reason for stepfamilies.

Concept development

In common parlance, the term stepchild is not necessarily linked to certain legal relationships (e.g. marriage ) , but describes the social function of the family into which the stepchild is accepted through the new partnership of its birth parent. In fairy tales, negative relationships are often negatively documented: stepmothers and fathers regularly behave badly towards their stepchildren (e.g. Hansel and Gretel , Cinderella ) : the strange children are neglected and disadvantaged compared to their own children. In a figurative sense, neglectful treatment is generally used to describe the poor treatment or neglect of people or things entrusted to them. For more information see under the heading stepmother .

Definition The prefix step- has been used for a long time only to characterize family relationships (stepmother, stepbrother) . The stepfamily could be defined as a reconstructed (mononuclear) family . In the context of the changed social socializations, the term was taken up by sociology at the end of the 20th century and interpreted much further. For a broad study by the Ministry of Family Affairs, the stepfamily was defined as follows: A stepfamily exists “if a child (under 18 years of age) lives with one birth parent and at least one of the birth parents has entered into a new partnership”. In this way, the focus on the stepfamily founded in marriage was deliberately avoided in order to correspond to today's family reality.

Subdivisions According to Robinson, stepfamilies can be subdivided according to the motive underlying the new marriage of the birth parent:

  • "Legitimating stepfamilies" - to "give a father" to an illegitimate child
  • "Resuscitated Stepfamilies" - Remarriage after Parent Death
  • "Reassembled Stepfamilies" - Remarriage after divorce, with the subgroups
    • "Love match" - if the stepparent was the reason for the divorce, i.e. without there being an intermediate phase of single parenting ,
    • "Free Choice" - if a phase of single parenting preceded it,
    • "Relief" ("Convenience") - if the marriage was more the result of objective considerations in the event of problems ("breadwinner" or "mother" wanted)
  • "Composite stepfamilies" - marriage in which both partners bring children from previous relationships.

Synonyms and related terms

Due to the inconsistent use of the term “stepfamily”, there is a lack of clarity and overlaps with other terms.

Patchwork family

According to the Society for German Language, the term blended family was first used in 1990 by translator Margaret Minker when translating Anne Bernstein 's US advisory guide, “Yours, mine and ours. How families change when remarried parents have a child together ”in their translation in the title“ Die Patchworkfamilie. When fathers or mothers have more children in new marriages ”used.

Since then, it has increasingly been adopted in popular scientific works as well as by politics and teaching, whereby the term blended family is more comprehensive in content than the definition of the term stepfamily and - in contrast to this - is also used as a synonym for social change.

The words mixed family and blended family are often used as synonyms for stepfamily, for example by ministries and marriage counseling , without a step relationship having to exist for the sociological situation described .

Reconstructed family Term ( English. Recombined family ) for a nuclear family, which was 'restored' after the loss (death, separation and departure) of a parent by a new couple relationship. It is considered a subgroup of the stepfamily that is sociologically restricted to a mononuclear family.

Compound family A term ( blended family ) that is used synonymously to avoid the negative associations of the term "step-". In terms of the term, however, it goes beyond the stepfamily, as it does not aim at the step family, but rather at the composition of the family, which sociologically is also the same for foster and adoptive families (also for same-sex partnerships with children). This term therefore corresponds to the term 'patchwork family' and also includes the definition of a bi- or multinuclear family.

Mononuclear family A mononuclear family is a family with a household in which all family members have their center of life. This corresponds, for example, to a stepfamily in the old form, in which this family gap is closed through remarriage after the death of one of the parents.

Bi- or multinuclear family In this family structure, the sociologically active members (as opposed to living but sociologically inactive parents) of the family system live in two (or more) separate households. This can be, for example, a divorced family in which the two parents have not yet entered into a new partnership. But a stepfamily in which one or both parents have found new partners also fulfills this definition.

A multinuclear family structure exists, for example, if the child (or children) do not live with their parents but in a foster family after the divorce. Then there are three family centers with three complete pairs of parents (mother + stepfather, father + stepmother and foster mother + foster father) and a correspondingly complex - and difficult or vulnerable - network of relationships.

Psychosocial Problems

It is not uncommon for the partners to have problems agreeing on common upbringing rules that are accepted by all children from the different families of origin. Laws and customs are still largely geared towards a family characterized by marriage and ancestry. The mixed family can face additional legal and social difficulties, e.g. B. in the area of adoption law , inheritance law , custody , rights of access for parents living outside the family, naming regulations and the social standing of the family and family members.

For the mother of the stepfamily, the requirements can be even higher than for other family members. Although the children spend 90% of their time with their mother, they usually still maintain contact with their biological father, which can make relationships in both family relationships (mother-child and father-child) difficult for everyone involved.

Sociologist Anthony Giddens writes that stepfamily adoption is common. For example, a third of all US adoptions are of stepchildren through their stepparents. In this way, a parent compensates for their lack of biological attachment to the child and, more importantly for everyday life, facilitates custody and access rights. He also points out that the absent parent has a great influence on his child and thus disrupts the cohesion of the stepfamily through conversations, weekend visits, and the time lost in the process of growing together with the new family. Through the - possibly several - former partners, an extensive network of different parents and their children could be created.

A large-scale study by the US Department of Health and Human Services of child abuse and neglect found that in the US, both emotional, physical and sexual abuse are significantly more common among children in stepfamilies than among children growing up with their birth married parents , and also more often than with children in single parent families, children whose birth parents are unmarried, or children who were adopted by both parents together. In all categories, the most common abuse occurred in children living with a parent and unrelated partner. Physical, emotional, and academic neglect were also significantly more common in children of US stepfamilies than in children living with their birth married parents, but much less common than in some other family types. The involvement of at least one grandparent in child-rearing contributed to a lower incidence of abuse in some cases. The number of children in the family also had an impact on the incidence of abuse: children with one or two siblings were less abused than only children, and only children were abused less often than children in families with four or more children.

See also

literature

  • Anne Bernstein: The blended family. When fathers or mothers have more children in new marriages. Kreuz, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-268-00090-8 .
  • Walter Bien, Angela Hartl, Markus Teubner: Stepfamilies in Germany. Parents and children between normalcy and conflict. Vs Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3263-8 .
  • Gerhard Bliersbach: With child and bowling . A guide for blended families. Psychosozial Verlag: Gießen 2018, ISBN 978-3-8379-2512-8 .
  • Verena Krähenbühl, Hans Jellouschek, Margarete Kohaus-Jellouschek: Stepfamilies . Structure - Development - Therapy. Lambertus-Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-7841-1331-1 .
  • Melanie Mühl : The patchwork lie. A polemic. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-23797-1 .
  • Moritz Schnizlein: Patchwork families in late antiquity. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-525-25299-4 .
  • Ulrike Zartler, Valerie Heinz-Martin, Oliver Arránz Becker (Ed.): Family Dynamics after Separation. A Life Course Perspective on Post-Divorce Families. Special Issue ZfF, Volume 10, Barbara Budrich, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8474-0686-0 .

Web links

Wiktionary: step-  - explanations of meanings, word origins , synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: stepfamily  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Patchwork family  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anthony Giddens: Sociology. Cambridge 1997, p. 156.
  2. ↑ Visher / Visher: 1987, p. 31.
  3. ↑ Structural features, potential for conflict and development opportunities in stepfamilies. ( Memento from August 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) [pdf]
  4. ↑ for the correct spelling see the Duden entry
  5. ^ A. Steinbach: Step families in Germany. In: Journal for Population Science. No. 33, 2008, pp. 153-180; and: Data from the Generations and Gender Survey 2005. [pdf] In: FamilienReport 2010. Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, Berlin 2011
  6. ↑ a b Giddens, p. 157.
  7. ^ Deutsches Jugendinstitut, Stepfamilies in Germany, from: ibid., 3rd wave family research 2000–2006
  8. ↑ 1980, quoted from Ewering, 1996, p. 32.
  9. ↑ Siwecki, PDF file of the advanced seminar work ( Memento from August 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Forensic psychological aspects of the expert work at the family court , winter semester 2005/06.
  10. ↑ cf. Manfred Günther : Dictionary youth - age. Berlin 2010, p. 89. Look inside the book.
  11. ↑ Wiesbadener Tageblatt: "Patchwork with Meltern and Veltern" ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (from August 4, 2005)
  12. ^ "Large family-small family-blended family" Change of social reality .
  13. ↑ UNI Trier: 4th symposium on women's and gender research in Rhineland-Palatinate Concepts of family and friendship, change in ways of life (18th – 21st centuries), Part III ( Memento from May 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ): “… Das Being single, only interrupted by short-term relationships, is gaining in importance, as are blended families. ... "
  14. ^ Marriage counseling Karlsruhe ( Memento from May 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth: Family education as an offer of youth welfare, “5.3.2. Characteristics of step families ('patchwork' families) ” ( Memento from March 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ^ Family guide from the Ministry of Family Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia ( Memento from December 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ): "Step families or blended families are called ... foster and adoptive families or couples who have had children through anonymous sperm donation."
  17. ↑ Verena Krähenbühl, The role of the mother in the stepfamily ( Memento from March 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
  18. ↑ Giddens, p. 158.
  19. ↑ Andrea J. Sedlak et al .: Fourth National Incident Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, Report to Congress. Section 5-3 Differences in the Incidence of Maltreatment Related to Family Structure and Living Arrangement. January 2010 ( Memento from February 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive )