Stepfamily Arrangement and Child Well-Being in South Africa: A Longitudinal Perspective

Flint Chenjera

The objective of this study is to assess the effects of stepfamily living arrangement on child well-being in South Africa. The data used has been extracted from the NIDS. Despite high levels of marital dissolutions and remarriage in the region, the current study shows that stepfamily living arrangement is not very common in South Africa. After controlling for child-level, parental-level, and household-level characteristics, children living in a stepfamily arrangement are less likely to perform well in school as compared to children living with both biological parents. The adversities of stepfamily arrangement differ by sex and by place of the residence; male and non-urban resident children are affected more as compared to female and urban resident children respectively.