Remarriage has a long history. For centuries, the death of a spouse—due to poor health, war, famine, pestilence or childbirth—has led to family regroupings. But unlike in ancient times, remarriage today is a different experience. Most remarriages follow divorce, not death. Remarriage after divorce does not close the family circle and recreate the family unit. Instead, when a new partner brings children from a prior relationship, a stepfamily is formed. The result is a new level of kin and new family interaction patterns.

It is not hard to imagine that most families want the same thing—a loving, supportive adult partnership and happy, well-adjusted children. However, a national obsession with the short-lived 1950s model of a “perfect” family prevents society from realizing the important role of stepfamilies. Stepfamilies supplement the strengths of the traditional family and rewrite the script for successful family life. It is important that society accept all family variations—such as the creation of a stepfamily—as normal.

Modern stepfamilies come in many forms. Stepfamilies may include couples in which both the man and woman have been married before, or only one partner has a prior marital history. Both the husband and the wife may bring children to the new marriage or only one member of the couple may be a parent. Stepfamilies may include minor children, adult children or both. These stepfamily combinations may be further complicated by differences in social, racial, religious or cultural backgrounds.

Although nearly half of all marriages are remarriages, the legal, financial, societal, religious, therapeutic and interpersonal responses have lagged behind this change in family relationships. Predictable issues arise in stepfamilies without regard to the length of the marriage, number of children, extent of finances or stage in stepfamily development. If your stepfamily household faces confusion and uncertainty, know that you are not alone. Information, education and support are available to help you weather the awkward and difficult concerns related to being part of a stepfamily.