This study examined gender differences in early adolescents' adaptation to mother-custody stepfamilies and extended previous work that found that girls have more difficulties adjusting to these stepfamilies than do boys. Parent-child interaction was compared in mother-custody stepfamilies and intact families, with a focus on gender-of-child effects on parent-stepparent behavior toward child and child behavior toward parent-stepparent. A 2-wave longitudinal, within-family design with families (n = 26) that had only 1 son and 1 daughter (ages 10-14 at Time 2) was used. A sequential analysis of several different types of behavior was done. The results indicate that girls had more difficulty interacting with stepfathers than sons did. The findings suggest how routine parent-child interaction in the home may contribute to girls' more problematic adjustment to mother-custody stepfamilies.Studies of marital transitions have found significant gender differences in the way children react to life in a mother-custody stepfamily. There is mounting evidence that, in late childhood and early adolescence, daughters have a more intense and sustained negative psychological reaction to their mother's remarriage than do sons (Bray, 1988;Giles-Sims & Crosbie-Burnett, 1989;Hetherington, 1989;Hetherington, Cox, & Cox ; Pink & Wampler, 1985). This difference is somewhat anomalous because daughters tend to adapt to divorce better than sons (e.g., Hetherington et al., 1985), and girls generally cope with stress better than do boys (e.g., Zaslow & Hayes, 1984). Yet the difference has been validated by research showing that divorce is associated with more drug use by boys but not by girls, whereas remarriage is associated with increased drug use by girls but reduced use by boys (Needle, Su 7 & Doherty, 1990). Although several factors influence child adjustment to remarriage (e.g., Emery, 1988), these results suggest that boys and girls may experience the transition and adjustment to remarriage quite differently, independent of other factors. Because of the prevalence of mother-custody stepfamilies and concern for the prevention of negative child outcomes resulting from marital transitions, there is interest in further clarification of this gender difference.Previous research has found evidence of this gender differ-

This study examines associations between the quality of the interparental relationship and how well 68 family triads (mother, father, preadolescent son) solved salient problems which arose at home. Four aspects of the interparental relationship (marital satisfaction, parental agreement, conflict during family problem solving, and parental coalitions) were included in a regression analysis which controlled for family structure and child externalizing. A longitudinal design assessed families when mean child age was 9.7 years and 2 years later. Parental agreement consistently facilitated family problem solving. However, strong parental coalitions inhibited family problem solving, which may be attributed to frustrated autonomy needs of preadolescent males in response to the parental coalition. Stepfamilies had less effective problem solving at Time 1. The results confirm the benefits of parental agreement to child outcomes via enhanced family problem solving but show a reverse effect when agreement occurs in the context of coalitions against a preadolescent son.

This study examines associations between the quality of the interparental relationship and how well 68 family triads (mother, father, preadolescent son) solved salient problems which arose at home. Four aspects of the interparental relationship (marital satisfaction, parental agreement, conflict during family problem solving, and parental coalitions) were included in a regression analysis which controlled for family structure and child externalizing. A longitudinal design assessed families when mean child age was 9.7 years and 2 years later. Parental agreement consistently facilitated family problem solving. However, strong parental coalitions inhibited family problem solving, which may be attributed to frustrated autonomy needs of preadolescent males in response to the parental coalition. Stepfamilies had less effective problem solving at Time 1. The results confirm the benefits of parental agreement to child outcomes via enhanced family problem solving but show a reverse effect when agreement occurs in the context of coalitions against a preadolescent son.

This study tested the hypothesis that the mother-father coalition, parent-child coalitions, and parental warmth expressed toward the child are associated with family problem solving in families with a preadolescent child referred for treatment of behavior problems (n = 30), families with a child at-risk for conduct disorder (n = 68), and a sample of comparison families (n = 90). Referred and at-risk families displayed less effective problem solving. A regression analysis, which controlled for gender of the child, family structure, family income, marital satisfaction, and severity of child problems, showed that strong parental coalitions were linked to low levels of family problem solving in at-risk and referred families. Parent-child coalitions had little apparent impact while parental warmth was highly correlated with better family problem solving. The results may be interpreted as evidence for a tendency for parents in at-risk and referred families to "scapegoat" a preadolescent during family problem-solving sessions. This may undermine progress on family problem solutions and may complicate family-based prevention and treatment programs that use family problem-solving sessions.

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