A study on parent-child relationships in stepfamilies from the viewpoints of stepchildren

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24653184
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Educational psychology
Research Institution	Prefectural University of Hiroshima
Principal Investigator	KATSUMI Yoshiaki 県立広島大学, 保健福祉学部, 准教授 (90274141)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Keywords	再婚家庭 / ステップファミリー / 親子関係
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Thirteen stepchildren were interviewed about their perception of relationships between their parents and them.The results showed that there was strong contrast in the way their relationships had developed.Some subjects were negative about building relationships with their stepparents and thought of them only as their natural parents' spouses and nothing more.Other subjects had positive relationships with their stepparents from the start of their new life and accepted them as their parents.In some cases their feelings about natural parents had not been worked through.It implied that it was necessary that the emotional experience with their natural parents should be worked through among their family members.It was found to be important to examine carefully the changes in the relationships with the resident natural parents.