Valerie Griffith HSP 385 11/2/11 Evaluating Evidence In both articles they claim that stepfathers make better

parents then the biological fathers. Stepfathers are more inclined to agree with the mothers parenting views and are more apt to engaging with the children. Biological fathers see themselves more as breadwinners. The hypothesis behind this claim is that the stepfather is more interested in being a parent and has to work harder to be accepted by the children. The studies were done by interviewing around 2,000 mothers of at-risk urban families. The first issue with this article is that there are no exact numbers. There is no data that supports the claim. Another issue with their claim is that they state there is no difference between the stepfather and biological father engagement with the children, but that the biggest difference was that stepfathers were more likely to agree with the mother. This statement contradicts the claim and is bias. The last issue I have with this claim is that they are relying on the mothers word, there is no investigation and they arent talking to the stepfather, biological father and even the children. Of course the mother is going to be more inclined to say that the stepfather is better, because she is on love with him, the biological father is just a sperm donor to her at this point. The studies offer a pretty extreme claim that they do not have the support to back up. There studies did not dig deep enough and there needs to be more studies conducted. The studies need to interview and observe the whole family before they can support their claim. The mothers alone are going to have bias opinions about the stepfather.