Using schema theory, this study explored the knowledge structures that stepchildren hold about their stepfamilies. Two studies developed a reliable measure of six themes of stepfamily functioning. In Study 1, 251 adult and adolescent stepchildren completed a pilot inventory. Factor-analytic results reduced the pilot inventory from 192 items to 65 items and demonstrated that each dimension could be measured empirically. In Study 2, 586 adult and adolescent stepchildren completed the revised inventory and produced a new, multidimensional measure: The Stepfamily Life Index (SLI). Evidence of internal reliability and discriminant validity for the SLI is offered, and implications are discussed.
Afifi, T. D. (2003). ‘Feeling caught’ in stepfamilies: Managing boundary turbulence through appropriate communication boundary rules . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20, 729–755 .
2.
Afifi, T. D. , & Schrodt, P. (2003a). ‘Feeling caught’ as a mediator of adolescents' and young adults' avoidance and satisfaction with their parents in divorced and non-divorced households . Communication Monographs, 70, 142–173 .
3.
Afifi, T. D. , & Schrodt, P. (2003b). Uncertainty and the avoidance of the state of one's family in stepfamilies, post-divorce single parent families, and first marriage families . Human Communication Research, 29, 516–532 .
4.
Amato, P. R. (1994). The implications of research findings on children in stepfamilies. In A. Booth & J. Dunn (Eds.), Stepfamilies: Who benefits? Who does not? (pp. 81–87). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
5.
Bateson, G. (1951). Information and codification: A philosophical approach. In J. Ruesch & G. Bateson (Eds.), Communication: The social matrix of psychiatry (pp. 168–211). New York: Norton .
6.
Baxter, L. A. , Braithwaite, D. O. , Bryant, L. , & Wagner, A. (2004). Stepchildren's perceptions of the contradictions of stepfamily communication . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 447–467 .
7.
Baxter, L. A. , Braithwaite, D. O. , & Nicholson, J. H. (1999). Turning points in the development of blended families . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 16, 291–313 .
8.
Braithwaite, D. O. , Baxter, L. A. , & Harper, A. (1998). The role of rituals in the management of the dialectical tension of ‘old’ and ‘new’ in blended families . Communication Studies, 49, 101–120 .
9.
Braithwaite, D. O. , Olson, L. , Golish, T. D. , Soukup, C. , & Turman, P. (2001). ‘Becoming a family’: Developmental processes represented in blended family discourse . Journal of Applied Communication Research, 29, 221–247 .
10.
Buchanan, C. M. , Maccoby, E. E. , & Dornbusch, S. M. (1991). Caught between parents: Adolescents' experiences in divorced homes . Child Development, 62, 1008–1029 .
11.
Cissna, K. N. , Cox, D. E. , & Bochner, A. P. (1990). The dialectic of marital and parental relationships within the stepfamily . Communication Monographs, 57, 44–61 .
12.
Coleman, M. , Fine, M. A. , Ganong, L. H. , Downs, K. M. , & Pauk, N. (2001). When you're not the Brady Bunch: Identifying perceived conflicts and resolution strategies in stepfamilies . Personal Relationships, 8, 55–73 .
13.
Coleman, M. , Ganong, L. H. , & Fine, M. (2000). Reinvestigating remarriage: Another decade of progress . Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1288–1307 .
14.
Fine, M. A. , & Kurdek, L. A. (1994). Parenting cognitions in stepfamilies: Differences between parents and stepparents and relations to parenting satisfaction . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11, 95–112 .
15.
Fine, M. A. , & Kurdek, L. A. (1995). Relation between marital quality and (step)parent–child relationships quality for parents and stepparents in stepfamilies . Journal of Family Psychology, 9, 216–223 .
16.
Fiske, S. T. , & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition. New York: McGraw-Hill .
17.
Fitzpatrick, M. A. , & Ritchie, L. D. (1994). Communication schemata within the family: Multiple perspectives on family interaction . Human Communication Research, 20, 275–301 .
18.
Gamache, S. J. (1997). Confronting the nuclear family bias in stepfamily research . Marriage and Family Review, 26, 41–69 .
19.
Ganong, L. H. , & Coleman, M. (1994). Remarried family relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications .
20.
Ganong, L. H. , & Coleman, M. (1997). How society views stepfamilies . Marriage and Family Review, 26, 85–106 .
21.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual. Garden City, NY: Anchor .
22.
Golish, T. D. (2000). Is openness always better? Exploring the role of topic avoidance, satisfaction, and parenting styles of stepparents . Communication Quarterly, 48, 137–158 .
23.
Golish, T. D. (2003). Stepfamily communication strengths: Understanding the ties that bind . Human Communication Research, 29, 41–80 .
24.
Golish, T. D. , & Caughlin, J. P. (2002). ‘I'd rather not talk about it’: Adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies . Journal of Applied Communication Research, 30, 78–106 .
25.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
26.
Granovetter, M. (1976). Network sampling: Some first steps . American Journal of Sociology, 81, 1287–1303 .
27.
Gross, P. (1987). Defining post-divorce remarriage families: A typology based on the subjective perceptions of children . Journal of Divorce, 10, 205–217 .
28.
Henry, C. S. , & Lovelace, S. G. (1995). Family resources and adolescent family life satisfaction in remarried family households . Journal of Family Issues, 16, 765–786 .
29.
Huston, T. L. , McHale, S. M. , & Crouter, A. C. (1986). When the honeymoon's over: Changes in the marriage relationship over the first year. In R. Gilmour & S. Duck (Eds.), The emerging field of personal relationships (pp. 109–132). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
30.
Kellermann, K. , Broetzmann, S. , Lim, T-S , & Kitao, K. (1989). The conversation MOP: Scenes in the stream of discourse . Discourse Processes, 12, 27–61 .
31.
Keshet, J. K. (1990). Cognitive remodeling of the family: How remarried people view stepfamilies . American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60, 196–203 .
32.
Klein, D. M. , & White, J. M. (1996). Family theories: An introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications .
33.
Koerner, A. F. , & Fitzpatrick, M. A. (2002). Toward a theory of family communication . Communication Theory, 12, 70–91 .
34.
Kurdek, L. A. (1994). Remarriages and stepfamilies are not inherently problematic. In A. Booth , & J. Dunn (Eds.), Stepfamilies: Who benefits? Who does not? (pp. 37–44). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
35.
McCroskey, J. C. , & Young,T. J. (1979). The use and abuse of factor analysis in communication research . Human Communication Research, 5, 375–382 .
36.
Nunnally, J. C. , & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill .
37.
Nussbaum, J. F. (1989). Life-span communication: An introduction. In J. F. Nussbaum (Ed.), Life-span communication: Normative processes (pp. 1–4). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
38.
Olson, D. H. (2000). Circumplex model of marital and family systems . Journal of Family Therapy, 22, 144–167 .
39.
Olson, D. H. , Sprenkle, D. H. , & Russell, C. S. (1979). Circumplex model of marital and family systems: I. Cohesion and adaptability dimensions, family types, and clinical applications . Family Process, 18, 3–28 .
40.
Peek, C. W. , Bell, N. J. , Waldren, T. , & Sorell, G. T. (1988). Patterns of functioning in families of remarried and first-married couples . Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 699–708 .
41.
Petronio, S. (2002). Boundaries of privacy: The dialectics of disclosure. New York: SUNY Press .
42.
Schrodt, P. (2003). A typological examination of stepfamily communication schemata. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
43.
Strauss,A. , & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications .
44.
Waldren, T. , Bell, N. , Peek, C. , & Sorell, G. (1990). Cohesion and adaptability in post-divorce remarried and first-married families: Relationships with family stress and coping styles . Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 14, 13–28 .
45.
Wicks, R. H. (1992). Schema theory and measurement in mass communication research: Theoretical and methodological issues in news information processing. In S. A. Deetz (Ed.), Communication yearbook 15 (pp. 115–145). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications .
