ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book aims to identify many of the challenges in doing this, and points to areas where research and knowledge are much needed. It shows the ways in which stepfamily households have to be like accordions—expanding and contracting as those in the household come and go. The book discusses two frameworks that take somewhat different perspectives on families, in ways that enable more accurate understanding of the reality of stepfamily living. It examines cultural differences in the approach to families and therefore stepfamilies and addresses the conceptualization of families as being pedi-focal. The book argues that intergenerational step relationships are increasing. Yet in Western White families the inclusion of stepkin in children’s lives is against the norm of the nuclear family, and individuals struggle with boundary ambiguity issues.
