Young Adults' Perceptions of Their Relationships with Their Stepfathers and Biological Fathers

Ninety-five undergraduate students took part in a study designed to compare young adults' perceptions of their relationships with their stepfathers and fathers. Seventy-three of the students (76.8%) lived in two-biological parent families and 22 of the students (23.2%) lived in mother-stepfather families. Students responded to a Stepfather (or Father) Questionnaire. The questionnaire, a modified version of the Stepparent Behaviour Inventory (SBI) (Fine, Coleman, & Ganong, 1998), contained 14 items that asked how often their stepfather (father) typically behaves in “warm” ways (e.g., “Asks how your day went”) or “controlling” ways (e.g., “Tries to teach you right from wrong”). In addition, all students were asked to rate the closeness of their relationship with their stepfather (father) and the perceived success of their stepfather (father) as a stepparent (parent). Finally, those students residing in mother-stepfather families were asked, in open-ended questions, to discuss the advantages and disadvantages to having a stepfather. Results indicated that fathers were perceived as being warmer, more controlling, and more successful than stepfathers. The most commonly mentioned advantage to having a stepfather was having someone to “help out with the family”; the disadvantage mentioned most often was that stepfathers try to “tell me what to do or boss me around.”