A controversial study has found stepfathers are “more engaged, more cooperative and shared more responsibility than their biological counterparts did.” Based in the United States this research negates the widely held belief that biological fathers are better suited to the role of parenting their own children.
Interviews were conducted with 2,098 urban mothers from the Fragile Families And Child Wellbeing study. The children involved in the study were born between 1998 and 2000 and were five years old when the most recent interview was conducted.
Some professionals in the field believe it would be scientifically erroneous to apply this study’s findings to all family dynamics in which a stepfather is present.
Sydney psychologist Grant Brecht said, “There is no reason why stepfathers cannot make incredibly good parents and they may be more attentive. But I think you have to look at it case by case.”
Lawrence Berger of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the study’s author, said mothers who participated in the study were more likely to have similar parenting perspectives with their children’s stepfathers than their biological fathers.
In addition, the stepdads too were more open about discussing their wants and needs as parental figures for the adopted child.
Stepfathers need to make the extra effort to blend in with the family and to feel useful as a parent that additional level of concern translates to a greater interest in parenting. Biological fathers should still work on being strong influences in their children’s lives as well. The ideal is for children to be surrounded by as many loving and caring people as possible to contribute to their healthy development.
At first I was surprised and incredulous by the findings in the following article. How in the world could the stepfather make a better parent than the biological parent? Considering the unique challenges associated with being a stepfather I felt the study must have been deficient in some way. After giving it some more thought I reached the following possibility – the biological father may be taking his parenting relationship with his children for granted because he is their father whereas, a stepfather determined to an effective parent can only rely on consistently demonstrating the behaviors needed to an effectively stepfather.