In recent decades, Americans have experienced many changes in family structures. People are living together outside of marriage, having children out of wedlock and marrying at later ages more often than they did a few decades ago. Divorce rates have risen across the last century, and these days close to 50 percent of marriages are expected to end in divorce.
     When parents of minor age children divorce, the children typically reside with their mothers and see less of their fathers. Because remarriage and cohabitation are common, these trends result in adult children having complex and diverse relationships with stepparents, ex-stepparents and even biological parents.
     With this diversity in family structure, the question of everyday notions of family membership becomes intriguing. To what extent are stepparents and ex-stepparents considered family members and parents to adult children? Can we take for granted that biological parents are always considered family members and parents?
     These questions became the focus of Dr. Maria Schmeeckle’s dissertation. A member of the Longitudinal Study of Generations staff since 1993, Schmeeckle created a new series of questions that our three younger generations saw in their 1997 surveys. The questions asked about different types of parents you had across your lifetimes, and the extent to which you viewed those parents as family members and parents. For each parent, respondents could indicate that they viewed them as “fully,” “quite a bit,” “a little” or “not at all” a family member and a parent. Approximately 1,400 of you answered these questions within your surveys.
     For current stepparents, Schmeeckle found that responses were evenly spread across all of the answer categories indicating great diversity in the way current stepparents are perceived. Ex-stepparents (who are no longer married to or living with the biological parent) tend to not be seen as family members or parents, but a significant minority (37 percent) are seen as at least a little bit a part of the family, and 20 percent of ex-stepparents are considered at least a little bit a parent.
     What was related to stepparents and ex-stepparents being seen as family members and parents? Schmeeckle found several significant factors including longer number of years living together, the stepparent remaining in a relationship with the parent (rather than becoming an ex-stepparent), the stepparent being legally married to the parent (instead of living together without being legally married) and the adult child having strong general feelings of family obligation.
     Responses about biological parents are interesting as well. While a majority of biological parents are viewed as full family members and parents, 9 percent of biological parents are seen as less than full family members, and 14 percent are seen as less than full parents.
     What was related to biological parents being seen as family members and parents? Schmeeckle found several factors here as well, such as longer number of years living together (rather than never living together, or only living together a short time), the biological parents staying married to each other or divorcing later in the child’s life (instead of divorcing when the child was young), and the parent being female rather than male.
     These results show that we cannot assume adult children always view their stepparents, ex-stepparents and even biological parents as family members or parents. In reality, perceptions are quite diverse and are shaped by a variety of factors. Social relationships and legal relationships are important factors that shape kinship perceptions. Biology alone is not enough to insure a feeling of full family connection.
     These findings are in line with other recent studies on family life that emphasize the diverse, flexible and voluntary nature of kinship in contemporary America.
     Schmeeckle has supplemented her survey analysis by conducting interviews with 15 of the survey respondents. She plans to follow up with her interview participants this summer. In a future article, she will share her findings from that part of her research.
     Dr. Maria Schmeeckle completed her dissertation in August 2001 and is now an assistant professor of sociology at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. She can be reached at mhschme@ilstu.edu.

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