Patchworkfamily

“How can stepparents, parents, children, stepchildren, and half-siblings best get along?”

"It has been proven that children can grow up happy and secure in different family models. This is also shown by Zartler's studies. ‘The structure of a family alone says nothing about how well it functions and how comfortable its individual members feel in it.’ However, the researcher warns against glorifying the idea of the happy patchwork family. "This puts just as much pressure on everyone involved as the other end of the spectrum, the ideal of the traditional middle-class family."

Photographed for DER SPIEGEL 52 / 2025
Text: Anika Freier
Picture Editor: Nicole Neumann