Appendix A: New Analyses of Stepfamily Prevalence Using the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH)

In this Appendix we present new estimates of stepfamily prevalence based on the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), a longitudinal survey started in 1987-88.

Stepfamilies in the NSFH. Detailed information on the biological parentage of each spouse’s children in the NSFH supports a full analysis of stepfamily experience of married couples. Here, we provide new estimates of the fraction of married couples living in stepfamilies, the fraction with nonresident children by previous partners, and a summary index reflecting also whether either spouse spent time in a stepfamily growing up.1 Estimates are based on weighted data and represent all U.S. married couples in 1987-88 who were living with at least one child under age 18 or were not living with a child but had a wife under age 35.2 We look first at detailed measures for the general population of married couples, and then look at economically disadvantaged and racial-ethnic minority couples.

Among all U.S. married couples of childbearing age, just over one in ten of these families (11 percent) were stepfamilies (sum of rows 3-5 in the first column of Exhibit 1). Excluding childless couples, the percentage (12 percent) was slightly higher (second column). In the large majority of stepfamilies (8 of the 11 percent), only the mother had children from another partner (second panel of Exhibit 1). A similar fraction (9 percent) of the population had nonresident minor children by former partners. In most (7 percent) of these instances, only the husband had nonresident children.

Not surprisingly, stepfamilies are far more prevalent among couples in which one or both spouses have been previously married than among couples where both spouses are in their first marriage. Among the former, over one third (36 percent) of households include resident stepchildren, and a quarter have a partner with at least one nonresident child (not shown in exhibit). The corresponding statistics are just 1 percent for couples where both spouses are in their first marriages. Thus, as of the late 1980s, stepfamilies due to out-of-wedlock childbearing with other partners prior to first marriages were relatively rare in the population at large.

Variation in prevalence. We look now at differences in several measures of exposure to stepfamily life for selected income, education, and race-ethnicity groups. Specifically, we examine differences in rates for three outcomes: (1) whether either or both spouses has any resident children by a former partner; (2) whether either or both spouses has any resident or nonresident child by a former partner; and (3) whether either or both spouses has any resident or nonresident child by a former partner or themselves had spent some time in a stepfamily by age 15. This more comprehensive approach to exposure to stepfamily life provides a better basis for gauging the extent to which married couples in marriage education programs may find material on stepfamilies relevant.

Looking first at resident stepfamilies (first bar in each set in Exhibit 2), married couples who are economically disadvantaged—whether measured by household poverty level or husband’s education—are more likely than the average married couple to be living with at least one child from a former partner. African American married couples are even more likely to be in stepfamilies (19 percent) than economically disadvantaged couples generally, whereas the fraction of Hispanic couples in stepfamilies is only slightly greater (12 percent) than the fraction for the general population (11 percent).3

Although stepparenting is rare among couples in their first marriages, the fractions bringing children from former partners into first marriages are somewhat higher for economically disadvantaged and African American couples. NSFH tabulations (not shown in exhibit) reveal that about three percent of economically disadvantaged couples and seven percent of African American couples in first marriages have children from previous (non-marital) relationships.

More comprehensive measures of stepfamily experience indicate that 17 percent of all married couples of childbearing age had at least one spouse who has had a child with a former partner (second bar of each set in Exhibit 2). When we include growing up in a stepfamily in measuring overall stepfamily exposure, the figure climbs to 31 percent (third bar in each set).

Differences across economic and race-ethnicity groups also appear in these more comprehensive measures. Economically disadvantaged couples and, especially, African Americans have substantially greater exposure to stepfamilies than the average couple.

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