In two of these cases, previously childless women acquired stepchildren in late life.
Some respondents may also have reported stepchildren and adopted children as their own children in one survey and then left them out in the other.
Four of these former stepchildren, however, remembered feeling differently from their parents, sensing an independent need to be in touch.
There were, nevertheless, three exceptions among our stepchildren which hint at the potential gains which other children missed.
And it is notable that in their teenage years several stepchildren found a special resource in a relative who was not actually living with them.
He has since provided shelter and security for his wife and three stepchildren.
Again and again it seems from the memories of our stepchildren that the intervention of relatives was felt as strongly positive.
This was strikingly indicated, for example, when we came to interpret the interviews which we recorded with our stepchildren sample.
