Fatherhood in complex families: Ties between adult children, biological fathers, and stepfathers.

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Our findings suggested that the quality of the two father-child ties are interrelated, that is, we found a small substitution effect (i.e., adult children were more likely to “choose” one father in the presence of both). We also found that the quality of father-child and stepfather-child ties was associated with the length of the parental investment period (i.e., investment). In addition, bonds with stepfathers were positively associated with the attitudes of the two fathers toward each other, while bonds with both fathers were associated with the quality of the tie between the biological parents (i.e., interdependence).Conclusion: Overall, the weak substitution dynamic that we found implied that a poor tie with one father can partly be substituted  by being close to un other father.