Children and adolescents transitioning into stepfamilies face many challenges, and transitioning into a stepfamily is often associated with poorer outcomes, including higher levels of delinquency (Brown, 2006) and decreases in happiness (Robson, 2010). Research is needed to identify factors that promote adolescent adjustment during the initial stages of stepfamily formation. One promising factor is stepparents’ strategies for relationship formation with their stepchildren. A number of studies have interviewed stepfamily members about how the stepparent’s role in the stepfamily affected the development of their relationships with their stepchildren. This research suggests that the stepparent-stepchild relationship is more likely to be positive if the stepparent takes a supportive role and avoids discipline (e.g., Ganong et al., 1999). This research aimed to build upon these finding.

This study had two primary aims:

1) to develop and provide initial validation for a measure of stepparent strategies for relationship formation with their stepchildren.

2) to examine the associations between the stepparent strategies and adolescent well-being during the initial stages of stepfamily development.