ABSTRACT
What happens to a child in a single-parent family when the mother (or father) who lives with the child remarries? Is it beneficial to the child's development and well-being to have a second, substitute parent in the household to provide companionship, guidance, emotional support, additional income, and help with the host of day-to-day problems that beset families with children? Does the addition of a new, and possibly unsympathetic adult to the household create further adjustment problems for a child who has already been through parental conflict and divorce, or the death of a parent? Or is it unwise to try to make generalizations about the “usual” effects of remarriage? Do the effects of remarriage on a child largely depend on the specific circumstances and characteristics of the child and parents involved?
