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From Single-Parent Families to Stepfamilies

Is the Transition Associated With Adolescent Alcohol Initiation?

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Maryland

This study addresses two questions: Is stepfamily formation associated with the likelihood that adolescents will initiate alcohol use, and if so, does this association differ by the type of single-parent families from which adolescents move or the type of stepfamilies to which they move? The author found that adolescents who moved to stepfamilies from single-parent families had an elevated risk of initiating alcohol use. A transition from a divorced single-parent family to a stepfamily is associated with an increase in alcohol initiation among boys, but a transition from an unwed single-parent family to a stepfamily is not. In contrast, girls who transition from an unwed single-parent family to a stepfamily show an elevated likelihood of initiating alcohol use, whereas those who transition from divorced single-parent families do not. Adolescents who move to cohabiting stepfamilies do not respond differently than do adolescents who move to married stepfamilies regardless of gender.

Key Words: stepfamilies • adolescents • alcohol

Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 27, No. 5, 685-711 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X05284855


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