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Some Possible Implications of Negative Stepfather Stereotypes

Abstract Two studies were conducted to investigate whether ambiguous evidence of child abuse would lead undergraduate students to be more suspicious of stepfathers than of fathers. In Study 1, students responded to a written vignette in which a 15 year old girl mentions to a high school counsellor that her stepfather (or father) likes to tickle her unexpectedly at home. Imagining themselves as the counsellor at the girl's school, students rated the stepfather's behaviour as more suspicious than the same behaviour by a father. In addition, the tickling of the 15 year old girl was more likely to be regarded as inappropriate, disrespectful, unwanted, or possibly abusive when it was done by a stepfather rather than by a father. In Study 2, students responded to a written vignette describing a young boy's visit to a hospital after twisting his ankle and hitting his head in a soccer game. During the examination, bruises are revealed on the boy's back and arms, which the boy says he got playing soccer. Imagining themselves as the doctor at the hospital, students were no more likely to be suspicious of the bruises when the boy was believed to be from a stepfather family than from a biological family. It may be that the stereotype of stepfathers as being sexually abusive is stronger than the stereotype of stepfathers as being physically abusive. The possible implications of these results are discussed.