The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which custodial and noncustodial stepmothers felt satisfied in their parental role as determined by examining two indicators of role satisfaction: confidence and contentment in parental role. The objectives were: to compare confidence and degree of contentment of custodial and noncustodial stepmothers and to explore the moderating or predictor variables that may have an effect on confidence and contentment of parental role of stepmothers as a group. / A sample of 269 stepmothers was located and useable data were collected in September of 1981 from 146 stepmothers through a mailed-out and self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using general linear models, correlations, and multiple regression analyses. / No significant differences between custodial and noncustodial stepmothers on the dependent variables, confidence and contentment, were found. But it was interesting, albeit not significant, that one-third of custodial stepmothers reported a greater severity of parent-child relationship problems (or dissatisfaction in role) while only one-fourth of noncustodial stepmothers reported same. / Secondly, sixteen predictor variables were examined: combined income, stepmother education, husband education, stepmother age, whether the stepmother had had a stepmother herself, length of time as a stepmother, whether the stepmother had a child of her own, whether the stepmother had a child in common with the husband, number of stepchildren, sex of stepchildren, marital happiness, custodial arrangement, stepmother's and husband's relationship with the ex-wife, and whether the ex-wife (biological mother) was still alive or not. A stepwise regression technique was employed to ascertain which grouping of the independent variables would best account for variance in the dependent variables: confidence and contentment. Neither of the seven-variable models developed accounted for more than 19% of the variance in the dependent variables. / Additionally, one of the variables--having all female stepchildren--had a significant relationship with contentment. This indicates that having all female stepchildren was the best variable found to predict whether stepmothers would be content and satisfied in their stepmother role. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0556. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74750 |
| Contributors | ADAMS, DIANA JONES., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 177 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds