Research on Interventions for Stepfamily Couples: The State of the Field

HIGH RATES of remarriage in most Western countries (around 40% of all new marriages; Kreider, 2005) have resulted in many adults living in households that include children from a previous relationship. For example, 10% of U.S. fathers and 2% of U.S. mothers live with their partner’s child (Kreider & Fields, 2005). Many couples in stepfamilies are happy in their relationships; others struggle with the challenges inherent in forming a stepfamily. Research suggests that living in a stepfamily confers an elevated risk for negative couple outcomes, including high rates of conflict and divorce. Unfortunately, clinical interventions to prevent or treat couple relationship problems in the context of a stepfamily are extremely limited. Much of the early clinical work with stepfamilies focused on stepparent-stepchild relationships and parenting, with little or no attention to the couple’s relationship (reviewed by Lawton & Sanders, 1994). On the other hand, general couple interventions that are effective in promoting healthy relationships (e.g., Halford, Markman, Kline, & Stanley, 2003) may be of limited efficacy when applied to couples in stepfamilies if they do not address stepfamilyspecific factors that confer additional risks. In this chapter, we present a brief overview of the factors associated with couple functioning in stepfamilies, which may represent appropriate targets for clinical interventions. Next, we review the existing research on clinical stepfamily interventions, describing the content and formats of the interventions, assessing the methodological quality of program