Remarriage is a potential crisis for children, comparable to divorce. Losses incurred by divorce are often not ameliorated, and remarriage presents additional tasks and psychological complexities. Children of remarriage must negotiate major structural and relationship changes in the family system. Remarriage usually occurs before children have integrated divorce and resolved grief over the loss of a parent. The presence of a stepparent may accentuate the child's loss, provoke competition for the remaining parent, and elicit conflicts in loyalty. Our society allows adults to have multiple marriages, but children are reared to love and trust only their natural parents.
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Jill Matthews Thies (1977) studied this question.
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