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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: Blended Families and Divorce
Domínguez de la Rosa L., & Millán-Franco M. (2023). SOCIAL WORK IN THE FACE OF NEW
CHALLENGES: BLENDED FAMILIES. Athenea Digital.
social. https://atheneadigital.net/article/download/v23-n2-dominguez-millan/3311-pdf-
en/16052
The authors of this article focus mainly on understanding various argument lines that
blended families use in constructing their family dynamics. Blended families have been
identified to become increasingly widespread. Domínguez de la Rosa and Millán-Franc assert
that blended families have been facing serious challenges like divorce, which complicated child
support. The article states that blended families in Spain and globally have increased due to the
absence of suitable social policies that can address them. Gender dynamics are of significant
relevance in blended households, and therefore, the gender status quo ought to be questioned
concerning that family category. The authors concluded that social workers should enhance
blended family acceptance via community education to reduce challenges like divorce and
vulnerable children support.
Ente, A. P. (2019). Being Whole Together: A Study of Blended Family Life on the Spectrum.
eScholarship. https://escholarship.org/content/qt2d60x7j7/qt2d60x7j7_noSplash_ce11ee9
caf8879fd15f735b7470b04ff.pdf
Ente (2019) affirmed that blended families, remarriages, and divorce have increased in
the past decade in the U.S. as well as other industrialized nations. His research concluded that the
remarriage divorce rate is higher compared to first marriages, meaning considerable stepfamily
numbers end in dissolution, making many people experience divorce. Due to the increasing
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divorce rates among blended families, adequate support is required to help those families meet
their needs. Besides, the article states that adults face additional problems in their efforts to
repartner when kids are present, like deciding on the child’s influence on selection process of a
new companion or deciding the time of introducing their partners to children.
Garriga, A., & Pennoni, F. (2022). The causal effects of parental divorce and parental temporary
separation on children’s cognitive abilities and psychological well-being according to
parental relationship quality. Social Indicators Research, 161(2-3), 963-987.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-020-02428-2
This article explores parental divorce as well as parental temporary separation effects on
children’s well-being at certain developmental stages. The authors concluded that to reduce the
negative impacts resulting from family divorce and disruptions, appropriate policies must be
implemented to help in solving and reducing challenges faced by children. In developed nations,
union dissolution and parental divorce are increasingly experienced, damaging the wellbeing of
children. It is advisable for parents to stay or remain together in upbringing their children
purposely to ensure good morals to their children and adequate support. Finally, since parental
divorce leads to blended families, which cause negative challenges to children as they grow,
parents are encouraged to stick together in times of difficulties and be perseverant to prevent
negative effects on their children’s mental health.
Karela, C., & Petrogiannis, K. (2020). Young children’s emotional well-being after parental
divorce: discrepancies between “resilient” and “vulnerable” children. Journal of
educational and developmental psychology, 10(1), 1-18.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bc4c/0e7be0c8faaed621fc2502b15b668fc7ba92.pdf
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The authors of this article examined children’s resilience from parental divorce stressors.
Increased divorced families are among visible features of family change of the past recent
decades. Karela and Petrogiannis found that resilience was not directly inferred on the basis of
constructs like attention, behavioral and emotional regulations, positive relations with others, the
capability of taking initiative, and sensitive responses of parents to the children’s needs.
Moreover, the authors found that parents of more resilient kids have less parental stress, are more
satisfied and less quarreling with their children, and have supportive relations with ex-spouses.
Moreover, parental divorce has been identified as a factor disrupting parent-children associations
and exposing children and parents to adaptive stressors and challenges.
Kristiansen, H., Roelants, M., Bjerknes, R., & Juliusson, P. B. (2020). Norwegian children and
adolescents in blended families are at risk of larger one‐year BMI increments. Acta
Paediatrica, 109(3), 587-594. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/apa.15019
Kristiansen and their colleagues investigated the impacts of family structure and
sociodemographic factors on Body Mass Index (BMI) increase in kids aged 5.5 to 15 years. The
authors assert that the causes of the obesity epidemic in childhood are multifactorial, including
unhealthy eating lifestyles and habits as well as sedentary behaviors. Besides, the research
concluded that children experiencing divorce or living with their step-parents experience
challenges in different domains like psychological well-being, academic achievements, low self-
esteem, weaker emotional bonds, and poor peer relationships. Before attaining 18 years, children
experiencing family break-ups have frequent childhood stressors. Finally, the authors found that
BMI increase in children is related to parental education, upbringing of kids in blended families,
and maternal Body Mass Index.
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Nixon, E., & Hadfield, K. (2023). Blended Families. Encyclopedia of Family Studies, 1-5.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314221348
This research defines blended family as formed after biological parents marry or cohabit
with partners who are not their child’s biological parent. According to the authors, 16 % of kids
in the United States live in blended families from the data collected in 2009. Nixon and Hadfield
suggested that, children living in stepfamilies or blended families exhibit more adverse outcomes
compared to those living with two biological parents and families. Children in step households
experience breakdowns from their parents’ relations, making them live in single-parent families.
Therefore, as the article states, making the transition from single-parent families to stepfamilies
confers children’s benefits and support since the second parent addition may fail to provide the
required support when upbringing the kids, hence making the children distance themselves and
be less affectionate.
Oliver, B. M. (2018). Blended family resilience: Communication practices in positive adult half
sibling relationships. Arizona State University.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/158456799.pdf
This study supports typical communication practices which have been identified as
potential interventions and solutions to divorce and blended family effects. Olive claims that
maintaining positive behaviors in families requires openness and joint activities, which are
significant to contribute in positive relationships. Half-sibling relations are negatively affected by
unclear boundary structures, unmet role expectations, and complex family subsystems. Besides,
half-siblings grieve the lack of noncustodial biological families or parents, making them feel
caught which leads to boundary confusion. Despite the occurrence of these challenges, the author
concluded the need to cultivate positive family relations by upholding constructive
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communication practices and holding resilience potential to prevent children’s situational
stressors.
Shui, M. Y. (2018). BLENDED FAMILIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON SIBLING
RELATIONSHIPS AND FIRST UNION FORMATION. CORE – Aggregating the world’s
open access research papers. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47055757.pdf
This author sought to address questions like does the relation quality of siblings in many
blended households differ from those in other household and is growing in blended families is
related to union formation patterns for young adulthood. Shui asserts that children living with
step-parents or single parents has increased because of high divorce rates, cohabitation, and non-
marital childbearing. Children do not get full support and benefits when living or brought by two
biological parents. Besides, the author states that blended families are misclassified as
stepfamilies or two biological parents. In blended households, the family structure fails to
capture the living arrangement complexity for kids residing with different biological parents.
Sillekens, S., & Notten, N. (2020). Parental divorce and externalizing problem behavior in
adulthood. A study on lasting individual, family, and peer risk factors for externalizing
problem behavior when experiencing a parental divorce. Deviant Behavior, 41(1), 1-16.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01639625.2018.1519131
Sillekens and Notten (2020) explored the relationship between undergoing parental
divorce during childhood and externalizing problem behavior (EPB) during adulthood. Parental
divorce always undermines kids’ development and well-being, with some consequences lasting
until adulthood. According to the article, an offspring is likely to show some externalizing
problem behaviors (EPBs), which is a negative result of parental divorce. The authors define
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EPB as an outward-oriented performance reflecting maladjustment and inabilities of engaging
constructively in the community. Sillekens and the colleague concluded that children who grow
up in blended and divorced families have EPBs, which distresses them and cause risk in societies
like increased crimes and high healthcare expenses.
Sloan, S. L. (2021). Long-Term Impact of Growing Up in a Blended Family: Emotional and
Attachment Issues. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=4167&context=doctoral
The author of this research explored the experiences of people brought up in stepfamilies
or blended families and the effects they encounter in their adult and developmental attachments.
Three in four people who underwent divorce remarry. Sloan asserts that adults report adjustments
in communication styles, self-esteem, abandonment, as well as personal behavior challenges
resulting from growing up in stepfamilies or blended families. In addition, the article states that
kids from stepfamilies or blended families transition and grow up to adulthood with attachment,
relational, and traumatic issues, which bring interpersonal and social effects. Many families
remain blindsided after going from marriage to divorce, single to marriage, and divorced to
remarriage, and this makes children from those families face traumatized living and other
challenges.
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