Structural Equation Modeling and the Social Relations Model: challenges arising from a longitudinal study assessing dynamics in stepfamilies

Stepfamily members affect each other’s thoughts and feelings and gradually establish as such stepfamily relationships. Using a design in which all members report on their relationships with all other members at three occasions, the Social Relations Model allows to study whether individual, relation-specific or family effects steer the development of stepfamily relationships and how these sources evolve over time.