ABSTRACT
I found no papers on stepfatherhood in my search of the psychoanalytic literature. It is a puzzling omission, considering that more than 50 percent of marriages end in divorce and that a large number of divorced parents remarry and have stepchildren. Based on data from the 1990 U.S. Census, the Stepfamily Association of America (SAA; Lincoln, NE) estimated in 1998 that 52 to 62 percent of all first marriages would eventually end in divorce, that 75 percent of divorced persons would eventually remarry, and that about 65 percent of remarriages would involve children from prior marriages and thus would form stepfamilies. The SAA (1998) states that the estimated rate of divorce for remarriages is 60 percent. Additionally, one in three Americans is now a stepparent, a stepchild, a stepsibling, or some other member of a stepfamily. More than half of all Americans today have been, are now, or will eventually be in one or more step situations. Stepfathering is a complex and challenging responsibility. There are more stepfathers now than ever, and it appears that the majority of them have a positive influence on their stepchildren’s lives.
