"'[R]emarriage following divorce has somewhat of a negative impact on the academic achievement of teenage children.' More specifically, Jeynes found that, compared to peers in single-parent families, stepchildren scored significantly lower on standardized tests, with particularly notable comparative deficiencies in math (p < .01 in the final statistical model) and social studies (p < .05 in the final statistical model).

...Both parental divorce and parental remarriage, as it turns out, bring down children's standardized test results. 'The results of these other studies, in conjunction with this one,' remarks Jeynes, 'would help explain why children of divorce from reconstituted families generally achieve at lower levels academically on virtually all measures than their counterparts in intact families.'"

(Source: "The Stepchild's Plight," The Family in America/New Research, The Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society, Volume 15, Number 01 [January 2001], abstract of William Jeynes, "A Longitudinal Analysis on the Effects of Remarriage Following Divorce on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents," Journal of Divorce & Remarriage 33[2000]: 131-148.) 

"Children of divorce who stay in contact with both parents are always travelers, moving between their two parents and the different worlds that they represent. When discussing their spiritual experience, another geographic metaphor-but a specifically theological one this time-might, therefore, be useful. I suggest that children of divorce who stay in contact with both their parents have an experience akin to the biblical story of the exile. This exile is not usually in the sense of being sent away, but of having to go away because of forces beyond one's control."

(Source: Elizabeth M. Marquardt, "The Prophetic Task of the Churches on Behalf of Children of Divorce," Criterion, University of Chicago Divinity School, winter 2001; http://divinity.uchicago.edu/research/criterion/winter2001/prophetic_task1.html.)

Sociologists have extensively documented how parental divorce hurts children. They have devoted far less attention to how parental remarriage affects children. In part to remedy that imbalance, a team of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley recently interviewed 45 young adult stepchildren, so producing one of the very few studies "that actually have asked the children themselves about their stepfamily experiences."

The young adults interviewed for this study did identify some "positive aspects" of living in a stepfamily, such as the "increased financial stability and resources" not available to them in a single-parent home. However, they also recalled a great deal of emotional distress. Many of the young adults interviewed spoke of "the conflict between families and within the family [as] the worst part of living in a stepfamily." Indeed, for more than a few "the constant conflict, tension, or fear of conflict were very difficult to endure."

One of the young adults interviewed spoke with particular candor about the "constant tension" of growing up in a stepfamily: "I mean, just like the fact that being a kid and decisions you make are going to hurt your mom or it's going to hurt your Stepdad or it's going to hurt your real dad, you know. I mean ... my decisions affected all these grown people.... [T]hat's a lot of responsibility for a young person."

Another of the young adults interviewed spoke forcefully of how hard it was "to juggle relationships" between a stepfamily and a non-custodial parent's family: "I can't ever have all of the people I love in one place at one time....I have even thought over the years, 'My God, if I get married I have to have those two families, at the same place at the same time, and that is a frightening thought to me."

Young people who have been raised in stepfamilies typically "feel loyalty to both families but feel disloyal to the biological family not living in the home." In this atmosphere of divided loyalties, many stepchildren "feel resentment or anger when a stepparent comes into the family and immediately tries to take over a parent role."

Not a few of the young adults interviewed in this study openly "mourned the loss of the nuclear family unit." One of those interviewed confessed: "I always wish that I had a different family because when I see people I think, 'That person has a great family,' or it's like, 'Their parents are still together.'" Another of those interviewed used even more terse language: "It's not feeling like we have a complete family, not feeling like I really belong in any family....[T]here's always something wrong."

(Source: Bridget Freisthler, Gloria Messick Svare, and Sydney Harrison-Jay, "It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times: Young Adult Stepchildren Talk About Growing Up in a Stepfamily," Journal of Divorce & Remarriage 38.3/4 [2003]: 83-102.)