Marketing Charts: 4 in 10 US Adults Have Step Relatives
More than four in 10 American adults (42%) have at least one step relative in their family, according to a nationwide Pew Research Center survey. The highest percentage report having a step or half-sibling (30%), followed by living stepparent (18%), and stepchild (13%). …
… Most adults who have step relatives feel a stronger sense of obligation to their biological family members than they do to their step kin. Among adults who have both a living parent and a living stepparent, 85% say they would feel very obligated to help out their parent, while 56% say they would feel a similar sense of obligation toward their stepparent.
Parents feel almost as obligated to their grown children as adult children feel to their aging parents. Overall, 77% of parents with at least one grown child say they would feel very obligated to help that child if need be.
Among adults who have both a grown biological child and a grown stepchild, the biological child exerts a stronger pull. Nearly eight in 10 (78%) of these parents say they would feel very obligated to provide assistance to a grown child. Closer to six in 10 (62%) say they would feel equally obligated to their grown stepchild.
Similarly, adults are more inclined to come to the aid of their biological siblings than they are to assist their step or half siblings. Among those who have both biological siblings and step or half siblings, 64% say they would feel very obligated to a sibling who was in serious trouble. Only 42% say they would feel very obligated to provide assistance to a step or half sibling.
However, even though step relatives trail biological relatives in each of these measures, they do slightly better overall than a “best friend” (39%).
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