Download "Economic change and the legitimation of inequality" article

"Stepparenting in Australia" Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans. 2003. Australian Social Monitor 6(1): 1-4.

Abstract: Today, about 9 per cent of Australian adults are, or have been, stepparents either with live-in stepchildren or with regular-visitor stepchildren or both, according to IsssA (International Social Science Survey/Australia) surveys based on representative nationwide samples amounting to 3,188 respondents. There has been little change in this since the middle 1990s. Multivariate analysis shows that most stepchildren come to a marriage from a prior divorce, although a parent's death and birth outside marriage both contribute, as well. Men are more likely to be live-in stepparents and women to be stepparents to regularly visiting stepchildren. Stepparenting occurs throughout the social hierarchy: there are no significant class differences in the likelihood of stepparenting. Moreover, stepparenting is not a step to be undertaken lightly. Multivariate analysis of its impact on overall happiness shows that stepparents are happier than are single people, but less happy than married people without stepchildren. When we turn to satisfaction with different aspects of life, the analysis shows that stepparents are less contented with their financial situation and less happy with their relationships with their children, but are no less happy in their marriages, jobs, hobbies or sense of purpose and meaning in life.

Download article (95k PDF file)

Number of downloads since September 2004 Hit Counter