A Clinician's View of “Stepfamily Architecture”

Papernow, Patricia L.

doi:10.1002/9781118269923.ch18

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In contrast, in stepfamilies of all ages, the deep lines of attachment and shared history lie between the parent and his or her children, as do the agreements about money, time, family rituals, and a host of other things. As a result, stepfamilies of all ages must build intimate relationships on a fundamentally different foundation from first‐time families (Papernow, , , , ).…”

Section: What Do Late‐life Recoupled Stepfamilies Look Like?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the usual family therapy guideline to convene the entire family is very likely to be destructive. Family therapy proceeds best in subsystems (parent–child, stepcouple, and sibling/stepsibling, and, if needed, ex‐spouses; Browning, ; Browning & Artfelt, ; Papernow, , , ). Focus on bonding in stepparent–stepchild relationships comes after secure attachment is established in couple and parent–child relationships.…”

Section: How Do We Help Late‐life Recouplers and Their Families?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Skilled help can make a big difference in meeting these challenges. However, relying upon first‐time family clinical models is inadequate, misleading, and even destructive (Browning, ; Browning & Artfelt, ; Papernow, , , , , ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Papernow¹

2017

Family Process

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Divorce rates have dropped in the United States, except for couples over 50 where they are rising steeply, along with rates of late-life recoupling. Both stepcouples and their young adult and adult children in new older stepfamilies are often surprised to find themselves facing many of the same challenges that younger stepfamilies do. Some challenges are even intensified by the decades-long relationships and additional layers of extended family that come with recoupling after mid-life. Stepfamilies formed in later life must also negotiate decisions about estate planning and elder care among stakeholders who often have sharply divergent agendas before there is time to establish trusting relationships. This article describes the "normal" challenges facing stepcouples who come together over age 50. It provides evidence-informed guidance for therapists in meeting these challenges on three levels of clinical work: Psychoeducational, Interpersonal, and Intrapsychic/Intergenerational. As in younger stepfamilies, "family therapy" must usually begin in subsystems-often the adult stepcouple and parent-adult child. The article then describes a particularly fraught subgroup of recouplers: over-50 fathers and their new partners, where the dad's young adult or adult daughter is very unhappy with his new relationship. In these latter stepfamilies, father-daughter repair must precede stepfamily bonding. Stepfamilies that are preceded by a partner's death and those that begin with affairs are also discussed. Finally, some "easy wrong turns" for therapists are described.

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Section: What Do Late‐life Recoupled Stepfamilies Look Like?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Do We Help Late‐life Recouplers and Their Families?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Papernow¹

2017

Family Process

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“…Also, according to Papernow's () model of stepfamily development and Kurdek and Fine's () multidimensional cognitive‐developmental model, couples in stepfamilies face different challenges during different points in stepfamily development. Certain expectations or beliefs regarding stepfamily life may be associated more strongly with marital functioning in the early years of a stepfamily, yet after several years, many stepcouples become wiser to the challenges of stepfamily life and have made adjustments to improve their relationships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in Stepcouples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

2015

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Using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, we examined remarriage beliefs as predictors of marital quality and positive interaction in a sample of 179 stepcouples. Three beliefs were measured using subscales from the Remarriage Belief Inventory (RMBI) including success is slim, children are the priority, and finances should be pooled. Several significant actor and partner effects were found for both wives' and husbands' beliefs. Wives' marital quality was positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Wives' reports of their own and spouses' positive interaction were both positively associated with their beliefs that finances should be pooled. Their reports of spouses' positive interaction were also negatively associated with husbands' beliefs that success is slim. Husbands' marital quality was positively associated with wives' beliefs that children are the priority, positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled, and negatively with success is slim. Positive interaction for husbands was positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Finally, husbands' reports of positive interaction for their spouses were positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled. Implications for future research utilizing dyadic data analysis with stepcouples are addressed.

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“…A continuing major problem in the field is that stepfamily clinicians and researchers continue to operate in very separate spheres. Nonetheless, it is clear that third‐wave stepfamily clinicians such as Patricia Papernow (, , ) and Scott Browning (Browning & Artelt, ) have stimulated the scientific discourse on stepfamily relationships, perhaps contributing to the stronger emphasis on family structure and family process in quantitative studies in the New Millennium era, and to the increased focus on qualitative studies. Furthermore, stepfamily educators have become more systematic in their assessment of educational interventions (e.g., Adler‐Baeder, Robertson, & Schramm, ; Lucier‐Greer, Adler‐Baeder, Harcourt, & Gregson, ; Nicholson, Sanders, Halford, Phillips, & Whitton, ).…”

Section: The Trajectory Of Research On Stepfamilies: Four Eras Of Fammentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying Stepfamilies: Four Eras of Family Scholarship

Ganong

Coleman

2017

Family Process

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Historically, there have always been stepfamilies, but until the early 1970s, they remained largely unnoticed by social scientists. Research interest in stepfamilies followed shortly after divorce became the primary precursor to stepfamily formation. Because stepfamilies are structurally diverse and much more complex than nuclear families, they have created considerable challenges for both researchers and clinicians. This article examines four eras of stepfamily scholarship, tracing the development of research questions, study designs and methods, and conceptual frameworks from the mid-1970s to the present and drawing implications for the current state of the field.

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A Clinician's View of “Stepfamily Architecture”

Cited by 12 publications

References 26 publications

Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in Stepcouples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

Studying Stepfamilies: Four Eras of Family Scholarship

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