What Works in Stepfamilies: Creating and Maintaining Satisfying and Effective Relationships

This book uses a strengths-based approach and resilience perspective to offer guidance on what works in creating effective stepfamily relationships, sharing findings and empirically supported best practices for stepfamily members and the family professionals that work with them.

Drawing from over 2,500 studies, Ganong, Coleman, and Sanner present a comprehensive overview of research on what works to create positive and satisfying stepfamily relationships. Chapters address how to work with stepcouples, stepparents, biological parents, co-parents, stepsiblings and half-siblings, and biological and stepgrandparents, with illustrative case studies throughout. It emphasizes the diversity and complexity of stepfamilies, including work with LGBTQ+ stepfamilies, stepfamilies from various racial and ethnic groups, and stepfamily relationships across the life course, from childrearing stepfamilies to those formed later in life.

This book is essential reading for students, researchers, and practitioners interested in strengthening stepfamily relationships, such as those studying or working in family science, marriage and family therapy, psychology, and social work.

Lawrence Ganong, Ph.D., is internationally recognized as a leading stepfamily scholar. He has coauthored 10 books and over 350 articles about family relationships, winning numerous awards for his work.

Marilyn Coleman, Ed.D., is a celebrated researcher with an international reputation for her work on stepfamilies. She has published 11 books and hundreds of articles and book chapters.

Caroline Sanner, Ph.D., is an award-winning family scientist and one of the leading stepfamily scholars of her generation.