Evolutionary Psychology and Marital Conflict: The Relevance of Stepchildren

The specific focus of this chapter concerns one particular source of conflict between women and men in marital or marital-like relationships, namely the existence or presence of children from prior unions. In explaining our rationale for suggesting that such children might be expected to engender or exacerbate marital conflict, however, we have to synopsize theories of much broader applicability. Our argument is predicated on a more general account of the nature of the marital relationship from the perspective of evolutionary biology, which in turn is predicated on a still more general evolutionary understanding of the nature of sociality and of the male-female phenomenon. Thus, we start with these most basic issues and work toward the specific question of the possible relevance of stepchildren to marital disharmony.