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Late-life remarriage: Stepfamilies make caring more complex
Date:6/25/2008

lent feelings among family members may carry over in all kinds of ways when a stepparent needs help providing care for an aging parent."

An adult child of remarried parents herself, Sherman believes that her personal experience as well as her doctorate in family psychology and gerontology has helped to inform her approach to this difficult subject.

"When my father needed care, I saw how challenging it can be to negotiate medical and care decisions when you are working within a stepfamily context. I was fortunate that my stepmom and I were able to become partners in that process," she said. "But among the older remarried women I've interviewed, there is often a feeling that they are not accepted by their adult stepchildren. Many also report that they either get little or no help from stepchildren, or that the stepchildren challenge the decisions or choices made by the caregiver."

In a prior qualitative study of late-life remarried caregivers, based on her doctorate dissertation, Sherman explored the financial tensions and conflicts between stepparents and adult stepchildren. In a paper forthcoming in the journal Family Relations, she noted that adult stepchildren often resisted the stepparent's financial role, even going so far as to "reclaim ownership" of family furniture, heirlooms and other objects when their biological parent and stepparent were away from home.

"Commonly, old family and financial grievances get revisited when a parent becomes ill," Sherman said. "And the onset of dementia in the biological parent leaves the caregiving spouse and stepparent on the 'front line' to deal with any unresolved or contentious issues."


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Contact: Diane Swanbrow
swanbrow@umich.edu
734-647-9069
University of Michigan
Source:Eurekalert

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