Defining Post-Divorce Remarriage Families: A Typology Based on the Subjective Perceptions of Children

Abstract

The central question addressed in this study is membership in a post-divorce remarriage family, i.e., how are its boundaries to be defined. In sociology the remarriage family has been traditionally and inappropriately defined within the nuclear family paradigm. An alternative manner of investigation is looking at how the participants themselves define their families. In this study sixty children in remarriage families were asked whom they considered to be members of their families. A typology of four mutually exclusive and exhaustive types was developed based on children’s subjective perceptions of parental family membership. Respondents were found in all four types: retention, substitution, reduction and augmentation. On an exploratory basis, variables were examined which might account for respondent’s location in one of these four types. The findings in this study have important implications for the definition of family after divorce and remarriage and call for a recognition of the importance of the children’s perspective.

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