Adult (step) parent-child relationships in complex families: a latent profile analysis

This study identifies a typology of adult stepparent-child and biological parent-child relationships by studying the structures in which relationship dimensions - affection, contact, support, and conflict - combine, building on the intergenerational solidarity paradigm. The existing literature on family complexity, which has analysed parent-child relationships one-dimensionally, and exclusively considered positive dimensions, requires a more integrated approach to describe the diverse landscape of (step)parent-child relationships. Using the OKiN anchor data, based on a stratified random sample of Dutch adults (aged 25-45), this study simultaneously analysed closeness, contact, support, and conflict in stepparent-child (N = 3,896) and biological parentchild relationships (N = 9,467), using latent profile analysis (LPA). These data provided adults' reports on up to four relationships to their (step)parents. LPA revealed four relationship profiles among biological parent-child as well as stepparent-child dyads: harmonious, ambivalent, detached, and conflictual. One relationship profile, disharmonious, was unique for step-dyads. Although the distribution over these profiles differs between stepdyads and biological dyads, it seems more strongly differentiated by parental separation, co-residential history, and parental gender. This study reveals the multi-dimensional diversity that lies beneath the comparison of averages of single dimensions of parent-child relationships, and calls for more nuance in studying family ties.