The Socioemotional Outcomes of Young Children of Teenage Mothers by Paternal Coresidence.

To date, no study has examined the implications of biological fathers' coresidence for the socioemotional development of children of teenage mothers. Previous research suggests competing hypotheses. Men who father children with teenage women have low education and earnings and are disproportionately likely to be antisocial. However, teenage mothers are less distressed when fathers are more involved caregivers. The current study follows a multi-city sample of children born to teenage women (n = 509) for their first three years of life in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Children whose biological father coresided continuously (20%) were more likely to be securely attached to their mother and had fewer externalizing problems than other children at age 3. Paternal coresidence did not increase household income, and it only marginally lowered maternal parenting stress.