This page summarizes them. Stepfamilies are normal . They've been around as long as tribal members raised the children of dead or disabled bioparents. They've probably been the majority family type, across centuries and cultures, until modern health care has greatly reduced the global human mortality rate this past century.
Pets add more.
This is usually confusing, awkward, and at times frustrating for everyone - specially if those involved aren't effective communicators. There are 12 co-parental projects to guard against this. American stepfamily couples are more apt to differ widely in age, race, religion, ethnic ancestry, and educational level than typical biocouples. Clinical, media, legal, educators', clergy, social, and typical courting couples' unawareness of all these combined structural and dynamic differences and their implications , cause up to 60 common misconceptions about stepfamily life. If they seek help with the resulting complex, alien innerpersonal and relationship problems , most clinicians and clergy are equally untrained and unaware.