The purpose of this study is to perform a description of how parents experience their life in a stepfamily and to examine how the parents experience the involvement from their new partner in the children?s upbringing. The issues are: (i) which expectations do the parent has on their new partner in the role as stepparent to the child, (ii) how active does the parent experience their new partners? step parenting concerning the stepchild and (iii) how does the parent expect the new family to take shape? A qualitative study has been done through interviews. The participants were sex biological parents, of which four were fathers and two mothers.

This is a qualitative study aiming to study Stepparents? view of the relationships within the stepfamily and their thoughts about what makes it work. It is based upon three stepmothers? life stories focusing on their relationships with their stepchildren. The study is based on a symbolic interactionistic theory and explores the experiences and unique perceptions of these women in their life as Stepparents.

The aim of our study is to examine Stepparents´experiences of their role in the new family, we also want to examine if the role as stepparent is affected to the role as a biological parent. Our study is based on six semi-structured interviews, with three stepmothers and three stepfathers.By using role theory and symbolic interactionism our results indicate the requirement of constant negotiation as well as acknowledging the need to consider the other familymembers, those you may not have chosen to live with.We can see that the division of responsibility is governed by what is best for the family - to make life as easy as possible. It is clear that many stepparent lack guidance in what is expected of them in their new role; howeverr, they have been able to grow into it.  .