The earliest recorded use of the prefix step-, in the form steop-, is from an 8th-century glossary of Latin-Old English words meaning 'orphan'.
[3] A step-grandparent is the step-parent of someone's parent, and not someone's biological grandparent, stepgrandfather being the male one, and stepgrandmother the female one.
Similarly, a stepsibling is the offspring of a stepparent to whom one is not biologically or adoptive related, stepbrother being the male one and stepsister the female one.
[6] According to James Bray, three of the challenges facing a stepfamily are financial and living arrangements, resolving feelings about the previous marriage, and anticipating parenting changes.
[7] Research has shown that parents who are constantly fighting with their ex-spouse tend to make their children suffer mentally and emotionally.
[8] Additional challenges that a step- or blended family face are those regarding the inherent bond that biological parents have with their children and vice versa.
Often, biological parents feel as though the stepfather or stepmother will ultimately replace them in the mind(s) of the child(ren).
[9] Although historically stepfamilies are built through the institution of marriage and are legally recognized, it is currently unclear if a stepfamily can be both established and recognized by less-formal arrangements, such as when a man or woman with children cohabits with another man or woman outside of marriage.
A child's parents or legal guardians may sign a statement authorizing a third party to consent to medical care.
Even when all parties describe the relationship using the terms applied to biological and adoptive families, however, at least some of the emotional and psychological issues common to stepfamilies may or may not persist.
Some circumstances may include: the child's mental, physical, and emotional welfare, their background, religion, having a positive relationship, etc.
[15] A common villain of classic fairy tales is the abusive stepmother, like the queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, or Madame Fichini in The Trouble with Sophie, which shows mother-in-law as cruel.
In popular culture, phrases like I'll beat you like a red-headed stepchild are uttered as a common threat that show just how aware people are about the assumed nature of stepfamily abuse.
In the mobilization stage, the stepparent can begin to step forward to address the family's process and structure.
The focus in this stage is on the stepfamily's unique "middle ground" (i.e. the areas of shared experience, shared values, and easy cooperative functioning created over time[22]), and on balancing this new middle ground with honoring of past and other relationships.
In the contact stage, the couple is working well together, the boundaries between households are clear, and stepparents have definite roles with stepchildren as "intimate outsiders."
The family accepts itself for who it is, there is a strong sense of the stepfamily's middle ground, and children feel secure in both households.
The task for this stage is to nourish the depth and maturity gained through this process, and to rework any issues that might arise at family "nodal events" (e.g., weddings, funerals, graduations, etc.).
[21] In her book, Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do, social researcher Wednesday Martin takes an anthropological approach to examining stepfamily dynamics.
As discussed by Adler-Baeder and Higginbotham (2004)[24] a number of curricula are currently available to stepfamilies and family life educators; however, further research is needed in order to determine best practices for the field.