MARILYN COLEMAN AND LYNETTE NICKLEBERRY University of Missouri An Evaluation of the Remarriage and Stepfamily Self-Help Literature The purpose of this study was to critique in- print, post-1990 copyrighted stepfamily self-help books in order to provide guidance to helping professionals who work with these complex families. Of the 63 books reviewed, trained coders were able to strongly recommend 13 books for being well organized, for relying on clinical or empirical sources of information, and for offering practical and concrete advice specific enough for stepfamily members to implement. Self-help books have been described as ‘‘a firm part of the fabric of American culture, too pervasive and influential to be ignored or lightly dismissed, and certainly worthy of investigation’’ (Starker, 1989, p. 2). Recent estimates show that about half of all marriages continue to involve at least one previously married partner (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004), and a significant number of these previously married partners have children. Unfortunately, the divorce rate for remarried couples continues to be higher than that for first married couples. The probability of redivorce within 5 years for remarried couples is 23% and within 10 years is 39% (Bramlett & Mosher, 2002), compared to first-marriage dissolution found to be 20% at 5 years and 33% at 10 years. The likelihood of dissolution increases when Human Development and Family Studies, Univer- sity of Missouri, 411 Gentry, Columbia, MO 65211 (colemanma@missouri.edu). Key Words: remarriage, self-help, stepfamilies. children are present, and in 2004, 17% of all children under age 18 (12.2 million) lived with a stepparent, half-sibling, or stepsibling (Bramlett & Mosher). Forty-six percent of the children in stepfamilies (5.5 million) lived with at least one stepparent (Kreider, 2007), a total of 6% of all children in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Given the high level of complexity within stepfamilies and stepfamily relationships (Cole- man, Ganong, & Fine, 2000; Ermisch & Francesconi, 2000), individual stepfamily mem- bers may seek the assistance of helping pro- fessionals in numbers considerably higher than individuals from other family backgrounds. Indeed, many stepfamilies need up-to-date edu- cational information rather than therapy, and high-quality self-help books have the potential to either supplement or supplant therapy (Visher & Visher, 1996). In 1989, Coleman and Ganong conducted one of the first systematic evaluations of the stepfamily self-help literature. Our goal here was to update and extend our previous work in order to provide guidance regarding the con- tent and quality of self-help books. The purpose of our study was to critique stepfamily self-help books published since 1990 and make recom- mendations that would assist helping profession- als match the needs of clients to available books. Emergence of the Self-help Book Phenomenon Books have been used for centuries to help people solve their personal and interpersonal problems (Pardeck, 1996; Santrock, Minnett, & Campbell, 1994). Early American literature Family Relations 58 (December 2009): 549 – 561 549