Is openness always better?: Exploring the role of topic avoidance, satisfaction, and parenting styles of stepparents

Abstract

A stepfamily often faces unique challenges that can influence the strength of its bonds. One way in which stepfamily members adapt to these challenges is through communication. This study investigates adolescents’ and young adults’ use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies and its association with satisfaction and the parenting style of the stepparent. The results revealed that the more satisfied the participants were with their mother, father, stepmother, stepfather, and stepfamily overall, the less avoidance they were likely to employ. The findings also showed that more authoritarian stepparenting tended to increase the amount of avoidance, whereas more permissiveness and authoritativeness decreased it. Authoritativeness and authoritarianism were more strongly associated than permissiveness with participants’ avoidance. Perceptions of authoritarian stepparenting were also negatively associated with participants’ satisfaction with their stepparent. Finally, low or high degrees of persmissiveness were associated with low levels of satisfaction, but moderate degrees of permissive stepparenting were associated with moderate degrees of satisfaction with one's stepfamily.

Key concepts:

• Topic avoidance
• satisfaction
• stepfamilies
• parenting styles
• communication boundaries