It is human nature that step parents have a hard time expressing love or showing salacity towards children who are not biologically theirs or related to them, and it is also understandable that residing in a home with children who are not biologically yours, to help raise can be very frustrating and challenging. With that said, I support Daly and Wilson’s view on their article “Violence against Stepchildren”. However, that doesn’t mean that stepparents are solely responsible for the high rate of abuse shown towards stepchildren. Research by Richard J. Gelles and John W. Harrop shows that single parents are also highly responsible for violence towards their children. I agree that children who grow up in single parent/stepparent families are at greater risk for child abuse and violence more so, then if they were residing in a two-parent, nuclear, biological family environment. Furthermore, in single parent/stepparent family environment, parent-child conflict and forms of family dysfunction takes place. Firstly, it is complicated for children to adjust and develop to a stepparent relationship within a new family …show more content…
Lastly, the step parent is also going to have to adjust to his new territory, assume the parental role and the possible reactions and negativity towards him or her by the child(ren)– which in most cases, can be highly frustrating, leading to violence and abuse towards the child (ren). Daly and Wilson mention that step-parent/child relationships are commonly more distant, less invested and satisfying and more experiences of conflict than those of biological parent/child relationships (Daly & Wilson, n.d., p. 96). Most step children distance themselves from the step parent and refuse to build a strong positive relationship between them. A study done by Heather A. Turner, David Finkelhor and Richard Ormrod, showed that high-risk factors of child abuse and violence in stepfamily homes also pertain to high levels of “family