engleski

Are Step–Parents Really Mean: A View From Pedagogy And Evolutionary Psychology

In many cultures there are stereotypes about the “cruelty” of step-parents towards their step-children. These stereotypes usually arise (1) from ambiguous roles of step-parents in the family, and (2) predominantly negative attitude of children towards re-marrying of their biological parents. Folk tales that are being read to children for generations greatly contribute to these stereotypes. In this paper, we discuss whether these stereotypes have any foothold in real life. We used the pedagogical approach and the approach of evolutionary psychology in our research. Our paper discusses in detail the existing stereotypes about stepparents. The goal is to determine whether children living with one biological parent and one step-parent actually live in unfavorable family conditions when compared to children living with both biological parents. Furthermore, a detailed review of recent pedagogical research and research from evolutionary psychology about step-parents have contributed to the pedagogical evaluation of this problem in order to determine (a) why are the existing stereotypes about step-parents and their relationship with their step-children a challenge for modern pedagogy, and (b) how can modern pedagogy respond to current problems.

step-mother; step-father; child; family; pedagogy; evolutionary psychology; stereotypes

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