DOUBLE JEOPARDY - PARENTAL CONFLICT AND STEPFAMILY OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN

This article uses data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families an d Households to examine whether conflict between parents can explain w hy children in stepfather households are doing worse than children in original, two-parent households and no better than children in single- mother households. Two types of conflict are examined: intrahousehold conflict (conflict between parents who reside in the same household) a nd inter-household conflict (conflict between biological parents who r eside in separate households). Children in stepfather households risk being exposed to both forms of conflict and, therefore, may be exposed to higher overall levels of conflict than other children. Because of their past experiences, they also may be more sensitive to parental co nflict than other children. Our results indicate that this is not the case. Regardless of the source of conflict and how it is measured, our results suggest that parental conflict does not account for the lower levels of well-being among children in stepfather households relative to other children.