The Stepfamily Cycle: An Experiential Model of Stepfamily Development

Abstract

Starting with Fast and Cain's groundbreaking article in 1966, attention to stepfamily issues has increased slowly over the last 2 decades, with a veritable explosion of the literature in the past 3 years (Bohannan, 1983). Many of the themes, strains, myths and tasks of stepfamily living have now been identified. However, it is as if we have now described many of the events of childhood, without putting them in chronological order. Family practitioners can give great comfort to parents of a 2 year old by placing temper tantrums within a normal developmental context. Likewise, constant tantrums in a 9 year old signal trouble. Stepfamily living requires traversing a geography quite different from biological family living, with a terrain which is often rocky and confusing. A developmental framework is needed to guide stepfamily members and professionals involved with them in their Journey. Sager, Brown, Crohn, Engel, Rodstein, and Walker (1983), McGoldrick and Carter (1980) and Ransom, Schlesinger, and Derdeyn (1979) each building on the others' work, have begun the task of describing stepfamily development. Others have helped define developmental tasks for stepfamilies (Goetting, 1982; Keshet, 1980; Visher & Visher, 1979; Waldron & Whittington, 1979). Drawing on family systems theory, work thus far has primarily described life cycle tasks as viewed by the family practitioner. The present